It was still early in the morning on 6 June 1944, but Staff Sergeant Walter Ehlers sensed something had gone terribly wrong. Glancing up from his overloaded headquarters LCI (Landing Craft, Infantry), poised in the English Channel, he watched as dozens of Allied fighters, bombers and gliders buzzed overhead, bound for inland targets in France. Fading into the distance, the armada passed over the Normandy beachline beyond, where the first wave of the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions were already in the thick of the fight. In command of L Company, 18th Infantry, Ehlers was waiting anxiously as part of the planned second wave to take the beach from the Germans. However, it was already clear things were not going to plan, and the airwaves were filled with frantic calls for immediate reinforcement.
Answering the call, Ehlers led the men of L Company to a waiting Higgins boat before motoring towards the beach. The 12 soldiers under his command had never seen
