Vintage Military - Part 58

 D-Day

Today is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, when American, British and Canadian soldiers landed on beaches in Normandy, France to begin the recapture of France from the Germans, eventually leading to the invasion and conquest of Nazi Germany the following year.

There was no place for modesty among soldiers at war.  Above, U.S. troops entering a shower tent in England a few days before D-Day.

On June 6, troops landed on the beaches under fire from the Germans.  Above, on Omaha Beach, a naked soldier goes out to rescue American troops whose landing craft have capsized in the heavy surf.  Evidently he felt he could work better without wet clothes.

After the invasion, we see soldiers taking an outdoor shower at St. Georges d'Elle, a few miles inland from the Normandy beaches, in a photo by LIFE photographer Frank Scherschel.

The capture of the city of Cherbourg solidified the Allies' gains, providing a deepwater port to bring in further supplies.  Above, American soldiers bathing in Cherbourg.

The Germans continued to resist as the front line extended.  These are members of the USAAF (United State Army Air Force – the U.S. Air Force did not exist yet as a separate military branch) washing by their plane at their base in Britain a month after D-Day.

But a month after that, the USAAF had moved their base camp to Normandy, where these two airmen are showering.

We end with two views of a commemorative statue at Omaha Beach, one of the beaches where American soldiers landed on D-Day, called The Spirit of American Youth Rising From the Waves.  The 22-foot tall statue was sculpted by Donald Harcourt de Lue in 1951.

The rear view of the statue shows its location in the American Military Cemetery at Omaha Beach, Normandy.  Over 9000 men who were killed in the invasion of Normandy are buried there.  They are the American youths that the statue memorializes.