Normandy & D-Day
The beaches, the paratroopers, and the untold moments of June 1944
The Pathfinders: The Men Who Jumped First Into the Darkness
Before the main airborne drops, small teams of pathfinders parachuted into Nazi-occupied Normandy in complete darkness to set up navigation beacons — knowing they would be alone behind enemy lines with no support.
Sergeant Harrison Summers and the One-Man Army at WXYZ
A sergeant who nobody noticed single-handedly assaulted a row of fortified buildings at a German position, clearing them one by one while his pinned-down platoon watched in disbelief.
The First Man to Die on Omaha Beach
Technical Sergeant Leonard Lomell would become famous for destroying the guns at Pointe du Hoc, but the first known casualty at Omaha was a young soldier from Bedford, Virginia — a town that lost 19 of its sons that morning.
The Band of Brothers Medic Who Ran Through Hell at Brecourt Manor
At Brecourt Manor, 13 paratroopers destroyed a battery of four German 105mm guns that were firing directly onto Utah Beach — an action still taught at West Point as a textbook example of small-unit tactics.
Pegasus Bridge: The Glider Assault That Lasted Six Minutes
British glider troops crash-landed within 50 yards of their target, stormed across a bridge in minutes, and held it through the night against German counterattacks — all before D-Day officially began.