West Ashley World War II veteran Bob Kay remembers landing on Utah Beach during the D-Day invasion. Early on, the elements and the terrain were a foe worse than the Germans.
Kay’s landing craft dumped him on a sandbar 50 yards from shore, throwing him into frigid English Channel waters up to his chest. He and his unit had to walk to the beach carrying tons of gear, including flamethrowers and ammunition.
The only good news was that German resistance was relatively weak, allowing him to climb over a seawall and wade through 1,000 yards of flooded fields without getting hit. It took about 4 hours.
When he finally got to rest that night in a roadside ditch, he cut some German phone lines and watched as allied troops and re-supply gliders flew overhead.