"When we landed, we weren’t prepared for the chaos that we saw on the beach that day." (Video interview, 13:52)

Walter David Ehlers

Walter Ehlers [detail from video interview] War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Unit: 7th Infantry Division; 3rd Infantry Division; 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division Service Location: Fort Ord, California; Fort Lewis, Washington; Camp Pickett, Virginia; Africa; Sicily; France; European Theater Rank: Second Lieutenant

The son of a Kansas farmer, Walter David Ehlers followed his older brother into the service, enlisting in the Army with him in 1940. Both of the Ehlers brothers served with the 1st Infantry Division, though they were in different companies, and fought in North Africa and Sicily before landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day. Miraculously, Ehlers managed to get his entire squad of twelve men off the beach without a single casualty, a fact which he cites with great pride in his oral history interview. In the days that followed, he led his squad inland and through multiple encounters with the enemy. He was eventually awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery in combat on June 9 and 10. Tragically, on July 14, 1944, Ehlers received word that his brother had died on D-Day, when his landing craft was hit by a mortar shell.