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SERVICE: Drafted May 1941; served with the 22nd Regiment, 4th Infantry Division; earned five medals, including two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.

RANK: "Buck Sergeant"

WHERE HE LANDED:Mr. Wendt was among the second wave of U.S. troops who hit Utah Beach. He drove a jeep off his landing craft and spotted a small concrete house and took refuge behind it. He was later told that the first wave of troops had killed a woman in the house because she had shot at and killed several soldiers.

On his jeep was a .50-caliber machine gun, and he would soon be called on to use it. Mr. Wendt said he was told that snipers in a church had killed 10 to 15 men.

"(The soldier) said, 'There's snipers up in that church steeple, and a .30-caliber (machine gun) won't reach it,'" he recalled. "I said, 'Betsy' - that's what I called it (the .50-caliber) - 'will reach it.' He said, 'All right, follow me.'"

Mr. Wendt said he drove a road leading to the church. Then he opened fire on the snipers.

"I took old Betsy and cut that steeple all to pieces," Mr. Wendt said. "I cut it off right where it comes out of the top of the church. I didn't want to do it, but had to do it."

He said he and the other soldier went to the church that night and saw three dead Germans on the ground.

"That's the only ones," said Mr. Wendt, "that I guess I ever killed."

MOST VIVID MEMORY: Mr. Wendt was sitting on the hood of his jeep and felt a burn on his leg. He looked at his pants, and a hole was in one of his pants legs. A sniper had shot at him, and the bullet had skimmed through his pants, barely missing his hip.

"I went on the other side of that hedgerow and didn't come out for two or three hours," Mr. Wendt said. "That scared me worse than the rest of it did."

- Mike Wynn

Editor's Note: The stakes were high and well understood. To Allied Forces - and the Nazis - the success of World War II rode on the outcome of the invasion of Northwest Europe on June 6, 1944, better known as D-Day. Code-named Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy landed more than 150,000 U.S., British and Canadian troops along a 50-mile stretch of coastline in 24 hours. Six divisions assaulted five code-named landing beaches - Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword. Those who survived that hellish day will never forget what they saw. The Augusta Chronicle talked to Augusta-area D-Day veterans and will present their stories this week.

--From the Saturday, June 5, 2004 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle

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