Augusta Georgia: Metro:Soldiers recall shores of Normandy 06/06/01

Grovetown mayor Dennis Trudeau was a 19-year-old Canadian paratrooper when he was captured by German soldiers after landing in France on June 6, 1944. Mr. Trudeau remained in a German prisoner of war camp until the war was over. CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

Soldiers recall shores of Normandy

Web posted Wednesday, June 6, 2001

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World War II survivors

By Ed Scott
Staff Writer

Today the bombs and bullets are a dim memory. The carnage is a faded picture.

What Jay Pearlstein remembers most about his first day in France, 57 years ago, is the cold.

Bone-chilling cold.

That night he and his fellow soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division wrapped themselves in abandoned silk parachutes for warmth.

They awoke the next morning to find a sleeping German soldier huddled in their midst.

''When he woke up he just threw his hands up and surrendered,'' Mr. Pearlstein said. ''He was our first prisoner.''

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By that morning, another young soldier, 19-year-old Dennis Trudeau, had himself become a prisoner sitting in the middle of a German battalion camp.

The two men were among the more than 150,000 Allied troops who descended onto the Normandy shores on D-Day - June 6, 1944. By days end, more than 5,000 of their comrades were dead.

Mr. Trudeau, now 76 and the mayor of Grovetown, was a Canadian paratrooper with the 1st Canadian Paratroop Battalion. The 28 members of his platoon were a part of the 6th British Airborne jumping into Normandy.

Their mission June 5, 1944, was to take control of two bridges and maintain control during the early morning assault.

1943 picture of Jay Pearlstein SPECIAL
''I was just a young kid - I was invincible,'' Mr. Trudeau said. ''I thought I could walk on water, until I landed.''

He landed in neck-deep water approximately six miles from the pre-planned drop zone.

''I thought, 'My God, I'm here by myself.'''

The young paratrooper was unarmed except for a knife - his equipment was lost in the jump. He waited for the next wave of planes to pass and then waded toward the bank.

''We were really scattered,'' he said. ''The area was crawling with French and Germans.''

After assembling, two British engineers began to lay explosives along one of the bridges to disable any crossing German armor. The other bridge was to be destroyed.

Ten to 12 paratroopers crawled across the bridge with Mr. Trudeau to take out a machine gun nest. A red flare was to signal their OK to return.

''We waited. The red flare went off and the bridge blew up at the same time,'' he said. ''I was really scared to death. We held low. A few guys tried to go across by hanging on the bridge, but they kept getting shot off.''

By daybreak they were surrounded by Germans. He and the four remaining paratroopers were soon captured.

That night on Utah Beach, the men of the 12th Regiment were battling the cold weather, incoming artillery and a mined beach - they really didn't need the orders to stay put.

''If you moved, a round came off at you - there were a lot of jittery soldiers that night,'' said Mr. Pearlstein, 84, a local retired businessman.

Because of a storm on D-Day, Mr. Pearlstein's landing craft had hit Utah Beach miles off course.

Making matters worse, earlier bombing and shelling obliterated all beach markings.

''The only markings I could see when we landed were German signs - 'Actung! Minen!' - they were everywhere,'' he said. The signs indicated mines.

After landing, the division was to meet at a predesignated area.

''The beach was totally chaotic,'' Mr. Pearlstein said. ''There were burning vehicles all around, my platoon was stacking up behind me, and rounds were incoming.

''I asked a guy on the beach how to get to this (rally) point, and he said 'I don't know, ask him,' pointing to a decapitated body beside him.

For 19 days the regiment fought through the hedgerows, and on June 25 they overtook Cherbourg, a port city in France.

Jay Pearlstein holds a map of France and Belgium where he along with other soldiers invaded the shores of Normandy on D-Day. CHRIS THELEN/STAFF
''I thought the war was over when we took Cherbourg,'' he said. ''I never understood the big picture.''

For Mr. Pearlstein, the worst thing that happened was ''a bad cold.''

But other soldiers had it worse.

Mr. Trudeau found himself wounded and in the hands of the enemy.

After being captured, he was stripped of his watch, jewelry, shoes, jacket and clothes. He was questioned that night, and then sent to a schoolhouse converted into a hospital, where he was treated for his shrapnel wounds.

On June 11 he was placed on a railroad car and taken to Germany. Assigned to a prisoner of war camp along the Elle River, he became part of a coal mine work detail, where he remained until the end of the war.

''One morning they lined us up,'' Mr. Trudeau said. ''We thought we were going to the coal mine, but instead they marched us in a different direction, away from the Russian front.

''That night they put us in a small concentration area surrounded by wire and guards,'' he said.

Placed in the middle of a farmer's field, the prisoners dug up potatoes to eat.

''We didn't have any food.''

Allied troops descend onto the Normandy shores on D-Day - June 6, 1944. SPECIAL
The marching routine repeated itself for a couple of days.

''One morning we woke up and there were no Germans,'' Mr. Trudeau said.

That was in May 1945.

''We walked to the nearest town, and the greatest sight I've ever seen was a Pfc. (private first class) standing on a street corner wearing his old helmet,'' Mr. Trudeau said.

Of the 28 members in Mr. Trudeau's platoon, 17 were killed.

World War II survivors

Adams, Hoyt - Grovetown

Anderson, Donald - Augusta

Anderson, Ralph - Wrens

Anderson, William Allen - Warrenton

Ballas, Charles N. - Augusta

Barrow, George E. - Belvedere

Braswell, S.L. - Wrens

Brewer, Earl - Martinez

Brooks, Roosevelt E. - North Augusta

Bunch, Harry G. Jr. - North Augusta