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Hey all,
I just spoke with this man, a WWII veteran who was on one of the first waves on Omaha Beach on D-Day with the Big Red One. He fought through the whole war with the 1st Division as an MI Garand rifleman and made it out without a scratch - a very lucky man. I was proud to meet him.
MARIETTA, Georgia -- Every night before he goes to bed, Hansell Burnett retraces his journey through World War II in his mind, and has done so for more than 60 years.
Burnett was a member of the 1st Infantry Division, famously known as "The Big Red One," and fought in almost every major engagement against Nazi forces in Europe in World War II, including fighting in one of the first waves on Omaha Beach on D-Day.
Born in 1925 to a tenant farmer in Dawson County, Burnett was the oldest of nine children in a family of "church-going people" and worked in the fields.
"We were brought up poor," he said. "What we ate, we grew."
Burnett said he does not remember when he heard the news about the attack on Pearl Harbor, but said he was ready to go and fight.
"I knew that was coming," he said, adding he was called up for the draft in May 1943. "It wasn't all that bad, but it wasn't all that good either."
Burnett was assigned to the infantry, issued an M1 Garand rifle and put on the Queen Elizabeth bound for England where he and thousands of other American troops were gathering for Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's planned invasion of Europe called Operation Overlord, now known as D-Day.
For days, the weather kept the troops stuck on the ships waiting to cross the English Channel and invade Normandy on the French coastline.
"You were just there," Burnett said. "You had nothing to do."
On June 6, 1944, Burnett had plenty to do as his landing craft cut through the choppy channel waters and prepared to deploy them on Omaha Beach.
Of the five beaches assaulted by Allied forces on D-Day, Omaha Beach was the most heavily defended by Nazi forces and became a bloodbath for American troops. More than 3,000 Americans were killed by German machinegun fire and shelling.
Burnett said his landing craft had to stop a ways from the beach to avoid being grounded on the sand.
"When they gave orders to disembark, the guy right in front of me froze," Burnett said.
When the craft's ramp went down, the man hesitated and was cut down by machinegun fire.
"He got it right in the gut," Burnett said.
Burnett leapt over the man and into the surf, where Germans were targeting the soldiers who were forced to wade slowly toward the beach.
Burnett said he could not fasten his helmet to his head because the shell concussions would rattle the helmet and decapitate the men if attached at the chin.
More approaching boats pushed more water into the wading men.
Burnett fell into an underwater hole and instantly lost his helmet and his M1 rifle.
"I don't know how deep it was," he said.
He picked up another rifle off a dead comrade and ran for the seawall.
"I was thanking the Lord that I was getting through there," he said. "My thoughts were ‘Get off that beach.'"
Many of Burnett's comrades were not so lucky, with bodies of fellow Americans all around him.
"They were piled up on the beach like cordwood," he said. "Just piled on top of one another."
Burnett's wife of 61 years, Lousie, said he only started talking about the war in recent years.
"He used to not talk about the war," she said. "He was just proud to be able to serve his country."
Burnett's service didn't send with D-Day. The fighting continued in France in the hedgerow country where he and a friend came upon an American Jeep with two decapitated officers still inside.
"His hands were still on the steering wheel," he said.
Burnett helped liberate France, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg. During that time, he found himself in the Hurtgen Forest between Belgium and Germany when the Battle of the Bulge broke out.
During one of the coldest winters in European history, Burnett was in a foxhole trying to hold back the German surprise attack.
"It was rough," he said. "It was cold, deep snow."
Burnett recalled his friends as good men that helped him get through the war.
"They'd stick to you like a leech," he said. "They were a good bunch of soldiers. I think of them a lot of times and try to go through and try to picture the ones I was in combat with."
Burnett and the Big Red One fought Germans in Czechoslovakia and liberated the Flossenb?ºrg concentration camp, where the Nazis murdered more than 30,000 people during the war.
Burnett admitted his experiences at the concentration camp were ones he is glad he has forgotten.
Tommy Clack, president of the Georgia Veterans Leadership Program, estimated that 5,280 veterans of World War II remain living in Cobb.
Clack, a Vietnam veteran, said men like Burnett should be remembered on Memorial Day for their sacrifice.
"All these men and women gave up all of their tomorrows so you and I could have today," he said.
At the end of the war, Burnett helped guard German prisoners. He said they were generally nice people and he does not harbor any anger toward them.
For three decades after the war, Ms. Burnett said her husband worked in heating and air conditioning and even farmed for a time after he returned from Europe.
His son, Hansell Burnett Jr., served in the Big Red One in Vietnam.
"That was a good division," Burnett said, adding while he doesn't get asked about the war very much now, he did a few years back and found talking about it had a calming effect.
"It helps get a lot of it off your chest," he said.
I just spoke with this man, a WWII veteran who was on one of the first waves on Omaha Beach on D-Day with the Big Red One. He fought through the whole war with the 1st Division as an MI Garand rifleman and made it out without a scratch - a very lucky man. I was proud to meet him.
MARIETTA, Georgia -- Every night before he goes to bed, Hansell Burnett retraces his journey through World War II in his mind, and has done so for more than 60 years.
Burnett was a member of the 1st Infantry Division, famously known as "The Big Red One," and fought in almost every major engagement against Nazi forces in Europe in World War II, including fighting in one of the first waves on Omaha Beach on D-Day.
Born in 1925 to a tenant farmer in Dawson County, Burnett was the oldest of nine children in a family of "church-going people" and worked in the fields.
"We were brought up poor," he said. "What we ate, we grew."
Burnett said he does not remember when he heard the news about the attack on Pearl Harbor, but said he was ready to go and fight.
"I knew that was coming," he said, adding he was called up for the draft in May 1943. "It wasn't all that bad, but it wasn't all that good either."
Burnett was assigned to the infantry, issued an M1 Garand rifle and put on the Queen Elizabeth bound for England where he and thousands of other American troops were gathering for Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's planned invasion of Europe called Operation Overlord, now known as D-Day.
For days, the weather kept the troops stuck on the ships waiting to cross the English Channel and invade Normandy on the French coastline.
"You were just there," Burnett said. "You had nothing to do."
On June 6, 1944, Burnett had plenty to do as his landing craft cut through the choppy channel waters and prepared to deploy them on Omaha Beach.
Of the five beaches assaulted by Allied forces on D-Day, Omaha Beach was the most heavily defended by Nazi forces and became a bloodbath for American troops. More than 3,000 Americans were killed by German machinegun fire and shelling.
Burnett said his landing craft had to stop a ways from the beach to avoid being grounded on the sand.
"When they gave orders to disembark, the guy right in front of me froze," Burnett said.
When the craft's ramp went down, the man hesitated and was cut down by machinegun fire.
"He got it right in the gut," Burnett said.
Burnett leapt over the man and into the surf, where Germans were targeting the soldiers who were forced to wade slowly toward the beach.
Burnett said he could not fasten his helmet to his head because the shell concussions would rattle the helmet and decapitate the men if attached at the chin.
More approaching boats pushed more water into the wading men.
Burnett fell into an underwater hole and instantly lost his helmet and his M1 rifle.
"I don't know how deep it was," he said.
He picked up another rifle off a dead comrade and ran for the seawall.
"I was thanking the Lord that I was getting through there," he said. "My thoughts were ‘Get off that beach.'"
Many of Burnett's comrades were not so lucky, with bodies of fellow Americans all around him.
"They were piled up on the beach like cordwood," he said. "Just piled on top of one another."
Burnett's wife of 61 years, Lousie, said he only started talking about the war in recent years.
"He used to not talk about the war," she said. "He was just proud to be able to serve his country."
Burnett's service didn't send with D-Day. The fighting continued in France in the hedgerow country where he and a friend came upon an American Jeep with two decapitated officers still inside.
"His hands were still on the steering wheel," he said.
Burnett helped liberate France, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg. During that time, he found himself in the Hurtgen Forest between Belgium and Germany when the Battle of the Bulge broke out.
During one of the coldest winters in European history, Burnett was in a foxhole trying to hold back the German surprise attack.
"It was rough," he said. "It was cold, deep snow."
Burnett recalled his friends as good men that helped him get through the war.
"They'd stick to you like a leech," he said. "They were a good bunch of soldiers. I think of them a lot of times and try to go through and try to picture the ones I was in combat with."
Burnett and the Big Red One fought Germans in Czechoslovakia and liberated the Flossenb?ºrg concentration camp, where the Nazis murdered more than 30,000 people during the war.
Burnett admitted his experiences at the concentration camp were ones he is glad he has forgotten.
Tommy Clack, president of the Georgia Veterans Leadership Program, estimated that 5,280 veterans of World War II remain living in Cobb.
Clack, a Vietnam veteran, said men like Burnett should be remembered on Memorial Day for their sacrifice.
"All these men and women gave up all of their tomorrows so you and I could have today," he said.
At the end of the war, Burnett helped guard German prisoners. He said they were generally nice people and he does not harbor any anger toward them.
For three decades after the war, Ms. Burnett said her husband worked in heating and air conditioning and even farmed for a time after he returned from Europe.
His son, Hansell Burnett Jr., served in the Big Red One in Vietnam.
"That was a good division," Burnett said, adding while he doesn't get asked about the war very much now, he did a few years back and found talking about it had a calming effect.
"It helps get a lot of it off your chest," he said.
