US veterans recount landing on Utah Beach on D-Day

(5 Jun 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Utah Beach, France - 4 June 2023
1. Tilt up on 99-year-old U.S. World War II veteran Andrew Negra at Utah Beach where he came ashore on July 18, 1944
2. Negra, without his cap, smiling with Utah Beach behind him
3. Various of civilians in World War II-era military vehicles on Utah Beach
5. Negra talking with Donnie Edwards, president of the Best Defense Foundation, on Utah Beach
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrew Negra, U.S. World War II veteran, landed on Utah Beach with the U.S. army's 128th Field Artillery Battalion, 6th Armored Division
“I am the only one in the 128th Armored Field Artillery that’s still alive. I’m the last one and that’s amazing.”
7. Robert Gibson, 99-year-old U.S. World War II veteran, who landed on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, speaking to man showing him photo of the Utah Beach landing on June 6, 1944
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Gibson, U.S. World War II veteran, landed on Utah Beach with U.S. army's Battery A, 116th AAA Battalion, attached to the 1st Army (recalling landing on Utah Beach)
“Can’t tell you. There’s a lot of casualties. It was pitiful. We had almost run over bodies to get in the beach. Never forget we were only 18, 19 years old. We’d come off of an LST (Landing Ship Tank) on ride-on ferry and when we got in, there wasn’t one of the 19-year-old guys who wasn’t crying. They thought 'this is it'. Every 10th round was a tracer. You could see how close we were coming in. I’m glad I made it.”
9. Cutaway ID card with still photo of Gibson taken while he was in the military
10. Close up of Gibson’s face
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Gibson, U.S. World War II veteran, landed on Utah Beach with U.S. army's Battery A, 116th AAA Battalion, attached to the 1st Army
“The first job we had when we came in, about a half a mile, we had to guard an ammunition dump and the first damn night it got struck. You didn’t know where you were to go. Bullets were going all over the place. But we ducked it. Made it. That’s all I can say.”
12. Closeup Gibson’s medal
13. Tilt up from photo in a scrapbook believed to show the Allied landing on Utah Beach, to Gibson holding it
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Gibson, U.S. World War II veteran, landed on Utah Beach with U.S. army's Battery A, 116th AAA Battalion, attached to the 1st Army
“You think about a lot of it really. How lucky we all were. That’s the most important.”
15. Gibson being helped by volunteers with the Best Defense Foundation
16. Pan of veterans in wheelchairs being helped to get to the Utah Beach monument
17. Veteran climbing up, using a cane, and being helped by volunteers
18. Veterans, brought to Utah Beach by Best Defense Foundation, observe moment of silence, with Utah Beach behind them
19. Close-up of Negra with US flag blowing in the wind
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrew Negra, U.S. World War II veteran, landed on Utah Beach with the U.S. army's 128th Field Artillery Battalion, 6th Armored Division
“I survived. That’s the first thing. Second thing is that I always give credit to World War II - I met my wife of 71 years. We were married. She died six years ago.”
21. Tilt up on memorial stone at Utah Beach to Negra smiling with the beach behind him
22. Cutaway of Edwards, president of the Best Defense Foundation
23. Cutaway of group speeches at Utah Beach
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Donnie Edwards, President of the Best Defense Foundation
25. Best Defense Foundation team lays wreaths at monument from the Naval Order honoring veterans in Operation Overlord
26. English Channel as seen from Utah Beach
STORYLINE:
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives ​​
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

[@cellocat-sm8lx]

God bless each and every one of these elderly gentlemen, and may the souls of those boys and men who never returned home be at eternal rest and peace. They will never be forgotten 🙏🇺🇸