"It was time to go over...grab the rope net...lift my leg over the side...hang on for dear life...sixty pounds on my back!" (Memoir, page 2)

Benjamin Alvarado

Contemporary photograph of veteran War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Unit: G Company, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, V Corps, 1st Army; G Company, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division, XII Corps, 3rd Army; 129th Military Police Service Location: Camp Fannin, Texas; Camp Howze, Texas; England; France; Germany Rank: Private

A combat newbie, Private Benjamin Alvarado was part of the second wave of troops to arrive on D-Day, landing on the Easy Red section of Omaha Beach. In his memoir, he describes the adrenaline-filled first moments of the invasion. Continuing into the French countryside with the First Infantry Division, he witnessed tank battles, atrocities committed against French civilians by the Germans, and the sense of relief that permeated the American troops when Paris was liberated. Wounded on September 26th, 1944, he was evacuated from the field; looking in the mirror in the hospital, he at first didn't recognize himself.