The D-Day Dozen

In 1987, Aaron Elson went to a reunion of the tank battalion with which his father served in World War II. He was so moved by the stories the veterans shared among themselves but often didn't tell their families that he returned with a tape recorder. The rest is history. Oral history. Inspired by Studs Terkel and Stephen Ambrose, Elson has recorded more than 600 hours of interviews with veterans of World War II. His work has been used as source material in more than two dozen books and a dozen documentaries, some of which have appeared on the History Channel. In this collection of a baker's dozen interviews you'll meet, among others, five combat engineers talking "Saving Private Ryan"; two veterans of the fabled 1st Infantry Division, including one who may have been the first member of the division to set foot on Omaha Beach; a dental surgeon in the 4th Infantry Division who landed on Utah Beach and was wounded at St. Lo; a battalion surgeon who ran the 10th Armored Division aid station during the siege of Bastogne; a Tin Can Sailor from the crew of the USS Butler; the Ranger who almost singlehandedly sabotaged four large coastal guns during the battle for Pointe du Hoc; a paratrooper who landed in the water and joined the Rangers in scaling the Pointe; two members of the 294th Combat Engineer Battalion who were aboard the troop ship Susan B. Anthony, which struck a mine and sank in the English Channel; and an 82nd Airborne Division sergeant who who went into Normandy on a glider that crashed.