D-Day veteran Bennie Bolgla was with the 29th Division, 116th Infantry Regiment, which stormed Omaha Beach on the first wave of the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944. Chris Thelen/Staff

'Everybody had religion that night'

Bennie Bolgla
Age 88

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SERVICE: Drafted into Army in 1940

RANK: Lieutenant during invasion

WHERE HE LANDED: As part of the 29th Division, 116th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Mr. Bolgla was in the first wave to storm Omaha Beach. His company's mission was to take out enemy pillboxes and eventually gain control of a seaport 20 miles away.

The night before the mission, his ship held prayer services.

"Everybody had religion that night," Mr. Bolgla said.

Although his Army superiors explained the invasion as if "all we had to do was walk up the beach," the assault was much more difficult, Mr. Bolgla said.

MOST VIVID MEMORY: Mr. Bolgla and his infantrymen were told the beach already would have taken heavy hits from U.S. aircraft, leaving holes in the sand to take shelter.

"But the beach was as flat as this," Mr. Bolgla said, gesturing to the smooth floor. "I think (the Army) used us as cannon fodder."

Of the 40 soldiers in his landing craft, only 12 survived until the night, he said.

"I guess that's when all hell broke loose, when we landed," Mr. Bolgla said.

"They hit some of the boats to the left and right of us. You didn't know what to think. You just hoped and prayed."

Five weeks later, Mr. Bolgla suffered a "million-dollar wound" after a mortar shell exploded near him, he said.

He spent three months in the hospital and did not return to the front. Mr. Bolgla still carries shrapnel in the left side of his body.

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--From the Sunday, June 6, 2004 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle