Utah Beach

More than 21,000 men of the 4th U.S. Infantry Division, with elements of the 90th Infantry Division and the 4th Mechanized Cavalry Group, stormed Utah Beach, which was divided into the Tare, Uncle, and Victor sectors. Their mission was to secure the beach and the four major causeways leading into the towns and link up with the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. Paratroopers dropped inland through the night and secured key positions, while U.S. Navy shelling of German defenses followed by Army Air Forces bombings helped the assault. The 4th Infantry Division landed two-thirds of a mile from its planned zone in a less defended area, which allowed an advance four miles inland while securing roads and working with the airborne divisions. The Americans landed 23,500 troops on Utah Beach with 200 casualties. Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., the assistant commander of the 4th U.S. Infantry Division, quickly recognized that the troops had landed more than a mile from their target, and his confident decisions helped make Utah Beach the most successful of the Allied landings; he later died of a heart attack and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Captain E. Briner Ashway, who had been injured during Exercise Tiger on April 28, 1944, returned weeks later to land at Utah Beach and then managed vital supplies inland before later serving with the 3rd Army during General Patton's advance across Europe. U.S. Navy Gunner's Mate First Class Dennis Shryock of Naval Combatant Demolition Unit 136 was among the first men ashore and, despite intense fire, helped clear beach obstacles with explosives so Allied forces could land. Thirteen Comanche Code Talkers used their tribal language to transmit secret communications, confirm targets for Allied ships offshore, and employ special terms such as iron fish for a submarine, pregnant bird for a bomber, and turtle for a tank; their code was never broken, and all returned home. The assault formed part of an intricate multipart attack in which prolonged aerial bombardment before D-Day and further air attacks early on June 6 were followed by naval gunfire and amphibious landings, while about 24,000 men also made airborne landings in Normandy by parachute or glider.

Pennsylvania · United States