Seaman First Class Richard Coombs served in World War II as a Navy Seabee. He fought in the first wave of the Invasion of Normandy, where he was a part of the Naval Combat Demolition Unit. In the interview, he says his about crawling up the entire beach:
“If you were to stand up, you're dead, you would've got hit for sure. I never knew there was so much firepower like that. You can't imagine, bullets hitting the sand, 88s going over your head and explosions here. And it smelled like death. You heard moaning, guys screaming, smell of gunpowder in the air. It was a very bleak, stormy day. How we ever accomplished and got in there, I don't know, but we did it.”
The Naval Construction Battalions, which quickly became known as the Seabees due to their abbreviation (CBs), were formed at the beginning of American involvement in World War II. They were created as an amphibious force to construct advanced bases in combat zones. Many Seabees volunteered to join Navy Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs), who were tasked with destroying obstacles in an advance of amphibious assaults.
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Bonus: Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter’s Memorial Day Speech
Sgt. 1st Class Elana Duffy: Counterintelligence in Iraq and Afghanistan, Part II
Sgt. 1st Class Elana Duffy: Counterintelligence in Iraq and Afghanistan, Part I
Col. Bill Gara: Leading the First Engineer Battalion in World War II, Part II
Col. Bill Gara: Leading the First Engineer Battalion in World War II, Part I
Dr. Jon Heavey: Battalion Surgeon in Iraq
Bill Story: The American-Canadian Devil’s Brigade, Part II
Bill Story: The American-Canadian Devil’s Brigade, Part I
Mike Howard: Serving From the Shadows
Winston Roche: World War I from the Trenches, Part II
Winston Roche: World War I from the Trenches, Part I
Jake Wood: Stories of Service in Iraq and Afghanistan
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Bob Hoover Legendary Pilot - Part 1
Pacific War Marine in WWII
Pete Everest Air Force Test Pilot
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