Veteran 101st Airborne paratrooper Pfc. Jim "Pee Wee" Martin reminisces about D-Day at the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
"Going into Normandy, it wasn't so much scary," he said. "Now going into Holland, we were different, we had already been there, and we showed more fear, but don't let anybody tell you that he wasn't scared going in to any combat, whether it was us or others."
Men died all around him; the unit endured a lot during the war, Martin said.
It was terrible when his unit landed in Normandy, he said, because German paratrooper and SS troops were right where they landed. "It was a slaughterhouse on that drop zone."
The plane ride over Normandy was typical, Martin recalled, but the pilots didn't slow down and make a slight left turn, to protect the Soldiers and the equipment.
"As a consequence, we lost most of our equipment," he said. Soldiers were also killed making the jump as well.
The unit's objective was one of the most important ones of the whole operation, Martin said, to capture a pedestrian bridge and a vehicle bridge, both of which were put in a few months prior to let reinforcements down to the beach when forces landed on shore.
"It was paramount we get the bridges, which we did," he said. But he said the unit lost all of its communication equipment in the jump.
"Division thought we had been wiped out, so they ordered the bridges bombed, and here we are right there at the bridges," he said.
The danger was present every day as Soldiers were killed around him; he thought each day might be his last. Once you accept you might die, "you're better off," and can focus on the mission at hand, Martin said.
"You got to understand that you can't let the fear control you; you have to do your job regardless of the fear, and we all did it. That's what we had to do and we did," he said.
Martin would "absolutely" do it all over again.
He enlisted in 1942, at the age of 21. He knew the situation was deteriorating in Europe, and that France and Britain were no match for Germany. Besides, men were being drafted and had to leave their wives and children at home.
"Here I am a young person with no family to worry about and these guys are going away and leaving their families. That did change me," he said. "I went down, I had a deferment, I didn't have to go, but I went down and signed up for submarine service."
Not wanting to wait the months that it would be before the Navy finished the ship it was building that he would be on, he then signed up and shipped off with the Army.
When the Navy came knocking on his mother's door saying he was a deserter, she showed the men the letters he had written home from the Army, and they reportedly said "'Well, that's OK, he's in, he's in.'"
Times were certainly different then, he said.
Serving one's country, he said, is part of the duty of living in a free nation.
"I don't consider it a sacrifice. A lot of people said it was a sacrifice. It's not a sacrifice. It's a duty that you're obligated to do," he said. "If you live in a free country, whether you agree with what they do, if you're called, you should go and do your very best."
Martin is proud of the men and women who serve the nation today.
What advice does he have for the fighting generation: "Go in there and do the best you can. Be thankful that you have a country that will back you with materiel."
Men died all around him; the unit endured a lot during the war, Martin said.
It was terrible when his unit landed in Normandy, he said, because German paratrooper and SS troops were right where they landed. "It was a slaughterhouse on that drop zone."
The plane ride over Normandy was typical, Martin recalled, but the pilots didn't slow down and make a slight left turn, to protect the Soldiers and the equipment.
"As a consequence, we lost most of our equipment," he said. Soldiers were also killed making the jump as well.
The unit's objective was one of the most important ones of the whole operation, Martin said, to capture a pedestrian bridge and a vehicle bridge, both of which were put in a few months prior to let reinforcements down to the beach when forces landed on shore.
"It was paramount we get the bridges, which we did," he said. But he said the unit lost all of its communication equipment in the jump.
"Division thought we had been wiped out, so they ordered the bridges bombed, and here we are right there at the bridges," he said.
The danger was present every day as Soldiers were killed around him; he thought each day might be his last. Once you accept you might die, "you're better off," and can focus on the mission at hand, Martin said.
"You got to understand that you can't let the fear control you; you have to do your job regardless of the fear, and we all did it. That's what we had to do and we did," he said.
Martin would "absolutely" do it all over again.
He enlisted in 1942, at the age of 21. He knew the situation was deteriorating in Europe, and that France and Britain were no match for Germany. Besides, men were being drafted and had to leave their wives and children at home.
"Here I am a young person with no family to worry about and these guys are going away and leaving their families. That did change me," he said. "I went down, I had a deferment, I didn't have to go, but I went down and signed up for submarine service."
Not wanting to wait the months that it would be before the Navy finished the ship it was building that he would be on, he then signed up and shipped off with the Army.
When the Navy came knocking on his mother's door saying he was a deserter, she showed the men the letters he had written home from the Army, and they reportedly said "'Well, that's OK, he's in, he's in.'"
Times were certainly different then, he said.
Serving one's country, he said, is part of the duty of living in a free nation.
"I don't consider it a sacrifice. A lot of people said it was a sacrifice. It's not a sacrifice. It's a duty that you're obligated to do," he said. "If you live in a free country, whether you agree with what they do, if you're called, you should go and do your very best."
Martin is proud of the men and women who serve the nation today.
What advice does he have for the fighting generation: "Go in there and do the best you can. Be thankful that you have a country that will back you with materiel."