We all made it safely to the dunes, dove to the ground, and looked around and listened. There were no soldiers, no machine guns, no bunkers, and no mines. By then it was daybreak. We searched the dunes and found no tracks except our own, so we assembled on a large flat mound nearby. We could see our ships anchored a half-mile out. The boats were unloading supplies from the ships onto the beach. We were counting the men in each platoon to see if everyone was present and if everyone was all right.

As we were waiting for the battalion commander and his staff to come ashore and give us our orders for the day, two fighter planes suddenly appeared. They were coming fast and low over the edge of the water. They began firing on the beach in front of us where the boats were unloading supplies. As the lead plane drew near, I could see the big black cross on the side. I knew it was a German plane and everyone else must have known as well because the entire battalion reacted at once and started firing. Nine hundred rifles firing at once are hard on the ears. We missed the lead plane but several rounds hit the second plane as it went by and it started smoking. As we watched the right wing dipped a little and the plane made a slow turn toward the sea. It continued to lose altitude until the wing dipped into the water. Then it took a nosedive into the water and sank immediately near one of our ships. There was no sign of the pilot surviving. Everyone was so happy that they yelled and danced and cheered like a crazy crowd at a ball game.

We were soon told that our objective was a German air base 35 miles inland. A country road nearby led to the air base. Our orders were to capture it and prevent the Germans from using it. We moved out in columns of two toward the country road. We had not yet turned onto the road when we heard a motor coming from over the small hill. We knew it was not ours so everyone dove to the ground. A small tank, about half as big as our Sherman tanks, came to the top of the hill and stopped. The field where we lay was freshly plowed. We were in plain sight. They could also see the ships anchored off shore and the hundreds of boats unloading supplies onto the beach. What an awesome sight that must have been to the tank crew. It turned around quickly and sped out of sight. The sound died in the distance and we never saw the little tank again. Someone said it was an Italian tank. We dusted off our woolen uniforms and moved out again.