Talking about his World War II service came hard to Roderick Turnbull.
"I guess the most we'd ever talk about the war would be when we were watching (the TV show) Combat!," said his son Rick Jr. "It was like, 'Every time they'd get in a firefight they're in a cemetery. They could hide behind the tombstones and all. Well, guess what. It didn't happen that way.' He'd watch those kind of programs and stuff ... and he would make little quips."
Six months after burying his 81-year-old father in Arlington National Cemetery in March 1999, Mr. Turnbull discovered that his dad had a lot to say on the topic.
He and his mother, Lela, were cleaning out some of the elder Mr. Turnbull's things when she handed him some journals, saying matter-of-factly, "You might be interested in these."
Mr. Turnbull didn't fully realize what he had until he got home that night.
"I started reading and was completely spellbound," he said.
In the journals that Army 1st Lt. Turnbull kept during the war were entries on his experiences shortly before, during and after D-Day - June 6, 1944. They included entries made after he was wounded, before he and other military police could set up headquarters on Omaha Beach. He would eventually recover from the shrapnel wounds to his right leg, for which he received a Purple Heart, and return to duty.
The diaries have become one of Mr. Turnbull's most prized possessions. "If my house was burning down," he said, "I'd get my family out first and those journals out second."
Here are excerpts from the journals:
3 JUNE 1944: Myself and three of my men weren't on the embarkation list and had to almost beg to get on board. ... From the looks of things the far shore is really going to get the works, ships cover this huge harbor.
4 JUNE 1944: Slated to leave early this morn but bad weather and enemy mines laid by gliders last night caused the delay, we're still sweating it out. ... Weather was rough all day and cleared late evening we may leave tonight.
5 JUNE 1944: Pulled anchor at seven this morning. Wind was still a little high and we have to tow a flat ferry barge so if we can't beach we can unload on this. The barge and other things caused us to run aground for a few moments. Later on we had a gun drill, then an abandon ship drill, a sailor thinking his 40 M.M. gun was unloaded fired our first rounds of the invasion into the air.
6 JUNE 1944: Planes passed back and forth overhead all night. Flares sent up and dropped lighting the seas. We picked up more ships during the night, the Channel is black with them. ... As I sit writing this we are surrounded by a mass of almost every known type of vessel. A terrific fight is going on, navy shelling, aircraft bombing, men going through hell within sight. I have seen many dead and several sunken vessels. The coast is filled with land and sea mines, ship traps etc. There is wreckage all over the place. Everything is in a muddle; I can't begin to describe a world gone completely mad. ...God it is a ghostly sight. Word was passed that we are to go ashore later tonight. I'd prefer going in when I could see but if it has to be this way we'll do our best.
7 JUNE 1944: All news reports say we're doing o.k. but I don't know things don't look too good from here. Fighting still going on within sight. We are shelling and being shelled. Thousands have been killed and tens of thousands wounded. Last night we had a wonderful display of fireworks, seven enemy planes were shot down I saw two hit the water just beside this ship. This place is filled with wreckage and bodies. Ships up on the beach high and dry, tanks, trucks, guns equipment and dead buried and half-buried in the bloody sand. ... I go ashore at 7:15 am, I was slated to go this past night at around 1:00 am but the fighting got too heavy to set up an Army Headquarters.
8 JUNE 1944: Well I've had it. My left leg took six shrapnel wounds and one wound to my right leg. The damage was caused by a 20mm cannon shell going off on the deck behind me. Five other men were hit by the same shell, although I caught most of it. So now it's back to England without be able to fire a shot for which I've trained so faithfully. I'll get my chances later I hope. ... Gosh it's tough to get it like I did.
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.
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