" jumped off the landing craft and into the water. It was over my head. When I hit the bottom I would have to kick up and down. Getting air and doing it again. I was being pushed into the beach from the tides and waves.
Finally I could get a footing and walk out of the water. I then fell onto the beach to catch my breath. You could see the bullets hitting the sand all around you. Men were still coming in. It was getting very crowded on the beach. Bodies of the dead and wounded kept washing up on the shore. They were coming in and out on the tide. The water turned red from all the blood. The medics were trying to get the wounded out of the water and on to dry land. I don't know how long I stayed there.
I got in the line up the hill and was told to step in the foot prints of the man in front of me because there were land mines all around us. When I got to the top of the hill I looked down at the beach, shells were exploding and ships were burning. Men and equipment were still coming in.
On the hill top men were scattered all over the place. Men were looking for their own companies and divisions. As I was waiting for the next move I was knocked over and hit the ground. I landed on my back, I heard someone say call a medic. I had been hit by a piece of shrapnel on my left shoulder. It hit my trench knife making a hole in my shoulder.
The medic patched me up and told me to go back down to the beach and I would get back to England. I looked at him and said. I just got off that beach and I was not going to go back down there. I got up and moved forward. I spent the night behind a hedgerow."
Earl Chellis, Dog Green Sector, Omaha Beach. June 6th, 1944.
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