As June 6, D Day 1944, came up, I recalled writing an article on Donald Burroughs, a WW II veteran, who landed with the first wave that day on Omaha Beach. Donald was born June 2, 1925 in Stuart, Florida. He later lived in Miami before moving to Sautee-Nacoochee Valley. There are many veterans living and dead that we honor and will not forget.
Donald was in two landings in WW II, one in France and the other one at Iwo Jima, in the Pacific Theater. He was a Navy corpsman with the US 6th Naval Beach Battalion (NBB). His first landing was in the first wave to hit Omaha Beach, D-Day, June 6, 1944.
Donald recalled, “We were under heavy fire from German shells, mortars, and machine guns. Killed and wounded men lay everywhere on the beach and in the water. We found scant shelter behind banks and walls.”
That afternoon he was wounded in the back by shrapnel from a German 88. He laid on the beach as shells exploded and bullets flew everywhere. Richards Onines, a friend, found him and carried him to another beach in order to get him on an LCT (Landing Craft Tank).
Donald was laid on the deck next to a wounded German soldier. He said, “We looked at each other. He was praying for me and I was praying for him. There we were brothers although I knew he was trying to kill me. I was a hospital corpsman so I wasn’t trying to kill him. But we were brothers for that moment.
Donald said to the German soldier, “For us the war is over!” An old vet who served to save lives, Donald died on March 25, 2008. He has now entered his next life where peace reigns supreme! As a career veteran, I feel a kinship to Donald and all veterans. War comes although we long for peace. We serve not to start or encourage war but to find the peace beyond war.
