D-Day: Dog Green Sector of Saving Private Ryan | History Traveler Episode 48

but we have been making our way down Omaha Beach which I've been here once before but I've been able to spend a little bit more time exploring today just a dream come true but even still I'm finding myself not having nearly enough time well now we are at the d3 draw so on d-day there were different oh I guess you could say low spots in the terrain that would provide exits for the tanks and artillery equipment and things like that and those were the main targets of the US forces here on d-day well I am now in front of the d-day memorial here at Omaha Beach so this marks the exact dividing point between the sectors of the 1st Infantry Division and the 29th Infantry Division it's hard to let go all you [Music] longer days when I we'll both pretend to be bold [Music] c-bro my stomach in [Music] okay now this monument out in front of me on the beach is called the brave and on either side are nine meter wings called the wings of Hope and wings of fraternity withstanding liberty in the middle pretty cool [Music] we will travel [Music] miles see home again wait say town scream [Music] okay so behind me here this is all the 29th Infantry Division sector the dog section of Omaha Beach so we're gonna kind of make our way down the beach there's a few spots along the way that I'm wanting to hit like I'm sitting in some of the other videos I'm just speechless most of the time whenever I get to these places we [Music] [Applause] [Music] so the american cemetery at normandy is pretty well known but what a lot of people may not know is that is not the site of the original cemetery the site of the original cemetery is right here off of the beach so the graves registration detail was having difficulties with coming under fire up at Colville where the present cemetery is and a bunch of soldiers who had been killed in combat ends up presenting honestly a health hazard and also can be bad for morale so they brought in some tanks I'm sorry so they brought in some bulldozers and dug a big trench and interred a bunch of soldiers right here and then in July of 44 they were reinterred up at where the present cemetery is [Music] a lot of people's our first exposure I guess you could say to what happened here on Omaha Beach is through the movie Saving Private Ryan well at the very beginning it shows the opening scene with the waves crashing up on the shore and it says dog green sector well I am currently standing at the dog green sector of Omaha Beach and in Saving Private Ryan Oh Miller and FAR's oh and you know all of those guys are with a ranger battalion that landed here with the 29th Infantry Division and this is the exact spot where they landed and up here behind me is V understand nest 70 now whenever those guys hit the beach there were all kinds of minds obstacles things called hedgehogs ramps different minds that were on top of poles anything to try and hamper Armour and infantry from getting on to the beach so by the time they got up here to the seawall a lot of them were exhausted I think the Rangers took about 50% casualties right here in this section but managed to get here to the base of the bluff make their way up and secure that spot from German opposition this is also where the US Army Rangers got their motto whenever general Norman Cota told them Rangers lead the way [Music] we are now at the far western end of Omaha Beach at the d1 draw at vierville Tom Hanks's character and Saving Private Ryan makes reference to this place and you can see up here on this bluff a concrete bunker it's kind of hard to see but it's up there and then off to my right another one of these big casemates that again just like the one on the eastern end held one of the fearsome German 88's now they've got this fence or cage in front of it but you might be able to kind of see in there they've still got it there and again that protective wall offering flanking fire of the beach from the western end [Music] well I am wrapping up my day here on Omaha Beach on the far western end in the dog green sector where 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division landed on June 6 1944 so right out here somewhere is where company a would have disembarked from there Higgins boats and as the boats we're pulling away and then we're standing there on the beach and the first German guns opened up and nearly wiped him out there's I can't go fully into it but there's a book by Alex Kershaw called the Bedford boys that's really good that talks about the sacrifice that one community made here on d-day whenever so many of our sons were killed like I've said several times before there just aren't words you ever get a chance come to this place it's it's pretty moving whenever you know about about the things that were done here and the bravery that was shown and the sacrifice that was made so that the world could be freaked [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: The History Underground

Views: 234,475

Rating: 4.9172115 out of 5

Keywords: history, history travel, history traveler, travel, history underground, wwii, ww2, world war II, world war 2, dday, d-day, omaha beach, normandy, june 6, medal of honor, german, german defense, bunker, jd huitt, saving private ryan, tom hanks, 29th infantry, rangers

Id: 0dddPqPuVs8

Length: 10min 33sec (633 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 30 2020