"Everything We Have": D-Day 6.6.44: The American story of the Normandy landings

Description

Over 150,000 troops landed on the five beaches of D-Day, with over 20,000 reported casualties across both sides. June 6, 1944 will be a day forever remembered in history. The story of D-Day has been told on countless occasions, and is an event that reverberates through time as one of the most pivotal moments in our history. "Everything We Have" tells the personal stories of the people involved in Operation Overlord, in their own words. Using rare documents, artifacts and first-hand accounts from The US National WWII Museum's official archives, you can gain a rare insight into the thoughts and feelings of those soldiers who landed on the beaches of Normandy.

Gordon H. 'Nick' Mueller, PhD., former historian and Vice Chancellor at the University of New Orleans, served as Founding President and CEO of the National WWII Museum. During a distinguished career at the university, Mueller made his mark as a popular teacher, dean, and vice chancellor. He continues to lead overseas WWII tours and speaks widely on the war experience, the American Spirit, and non-profit leadership. The National WWII Museum tells the story of the American experience in the war that changed the world - why it was fought, how it was won and what it means today - so that all generations will understand the price of freedom and be inspired by what they learn. Its collection features an expansive collection of first-person oral histories, on which this book is based.

"Searing, stoic, and sardonic firsthand accounts, along with photographs, letters, maps, and artifacts, record the drastic realities of D-Day, the massive and "audacious Allied invasion" of German-occupied France on June 6, 1944, by air, sea, and land. Many of the testimonies and images in this extraordinarily vital volume have never been seen publicly before, and all are drawn from the invaluable collection of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Following Tom Brokaw's powerful foreword, founding museum president Mueller provides the dramatic narration detailing each phase of operations. American pilots, paratroopers, sailors, soldiers, medics, nurses, engineers, a combat photographer, and more recount their harrowing experiences in sections devoted to the assaults against Utah Beach, Omaha Beach ("hell on earth"), and the daunting 100-foot-high cliffs at Pointe du Hoc. There's no forgetting the testimonies of parachutist Robert Williams, Jewish private Harold Baumgarten, eloquent high-school English teacher turned navy lieutenant Howard Vander Beek, and William Dabney, an African American corporal. This superbly illustrated work of military and oral history is both a defining introduction and a vivid refresher to D-Day." -- Booklist