WILLIAM C. ROBERTS - TYPESCRIPT SIGNED - HFSID 293357

D-DAY: WILLIAM C. ROBERTS
Signed typescript about the Normandy invasion, quoting Roberts description of the first day and night on the beachhead
Typescript signed: "William C. Roberts/467th AAA AW Bn. SP.", 1 page, 8½x11. Typescript titled "D-Day: Allied troops hit the beaches of Northern France of June 6, 1944". Two paragraphs describing the invasion in general terms are followed by two paragraphs devoted to Roberts: "William C. Roberts of Anaheim, Artillery, who landed a half-track on Omaha Beach, recalls the engineers blowing up mines and beach obstacles sewn by the German defenders. Those kept them from moving off the beach. 'It's hard to describe. You smell the artillery powder. There were guys lying around all over and no way to evacuate them. The first night it was pretty scary. Fortunately, no German airplanes were coming over, but we had to be sure we had our passwords ready. We used 'April', then you waited for 'Fool.' And, "Brooklyn ... Dodgers." During the fiftieth anniversary observance of the D-Day assault, a plaque honoring the 467th Anti-Aircraft Automatic Weapons Battalion. Placed on what had been a German fortification, the plaque, dedicated by surviving members of the battalion, reads, in part: "The Battalion suffered heavy casualties in the neutralization of the enemy bunkers guarding the beach. A special recognition is made to those who were killed or wounded during this and later campaigns into Western Europe. May their deeds never be forgotten." The unit, attached to the 8th Armor Division, fought on in the campaign across France and into Germany, seeing action in the Battle of the Bulge. William Roberts' personal history is unavailable, but he obviously survived to share a remembrance of this historic battle. Fine condition.