Cliff Buchan
News EditorRay Bergerson knows he was a lucky man in June of 1944. When Allied forces crashed ashore on five Normandy beaches 60 years ago on June 6, Bergersonís Army unit was 17 days out in landing in France at Omaha Beach.
ìWe were lucky to go in when we did,î Bergerson said of his 23rd Armored Engineer Battalion with the Armyís 3rd Armored Division. ìThere were other boys who had it a lot worse.î
As the nation paused on Saturday, May 29 to dedicate a memorial in Washington, D.C. to those veterans who fought and died in World War II, the events of June 6, 1944 have gained renewed importance.
The Allied invasion of German-held France was one of many battles fought in the war, but it was the campaign that set the tone for the ultimate defeat of Hitlerís Nazi regime. But it didnít come without a cost to American, British and other Allied forces.
By the time the Normandy campaign concluded on Aug. 23, 1944, three million Allied troops that were part of 47 Divisions were on the European continent.
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, 150,000 troops and went ashore at five beach landings, including the American assaults of Omaha and Utah beaches. U.S. casualties were close to 4000 on Omaha Beach alone with 1000 men killed in action.
Bergersonís story
It was June 23 or D-Day plus 17 when the 23rd Armored Engineer Battalion went ashore at the secured beachhead at Omaha. While the landing was smooth, it didnít take long for the unit and the 3rd Armored Division to move inland and join the fighting.
Before the war in Europe would end on May 8, 1945, Bergerson and his combat engineers would push through France, Belgium and on to Germany.
In addition to the Normandy Campaign, Bergerson would receive battle commendations for taking part in five campaigns: northern France, the Rhineland, the Ardennes and in central Germany. The division also played a role when Germany launched its last-ditch counteroffensive, the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944.
The 3rd Armored Division caught its first action in the hedgerow fighting of Normandy just days after landing. The division was first into Belgium and the first American force to penetrate the Siegfried line and first to capture a German town.
Bergersonís main job with the 23rd was a driver of a 12-man halftrack crew. As a combat engineer battalion, the unitís main function was to build roads and bridges over rivers to assist in the advance of Allied troops.
Often times it was work done under enemy fire. Bergerson received a purple heart when he was wounded by artillery during the drive through Belgium.
ìThere was some rough fighting,î Bergerson recalled. ìWe lost some men, but we were pretty lucky ó we hung in there. We had good air cover but they (the Germans) shelled us some.î
As Bergerson thinks back on his time in Europe in the 1940s, he remembers the men he served with and the kids of France, Belgium and Germany who would flock to the side of the GIs.
Now 91, Bergerson has survived most of his comrades.
ìI think about them sometimes,î he said quietly from his Forest Lake home. ìI was with some good men.î
How it happened
Bergersonís stint in the military came on June 27, 1941 when he received his induction notice to the Army. He was 28 at the time and figured the Army was as good a place as any to serve his one-year of military service duty.
That all changed on Dec. 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor and triggered the start of the Americanís entry to the war.
ìThat was what they told us ó weíd be gone for a year,î Bergerson said.
He trained with the 23rd at Fort Polk, LA and was sent to California and Pennsylvania for more training before going to England in September of 1943 to begin preparations for the invasion of France.
By the time Bergerson was released from the Army in August of 1946, he had four years and two months of duty time to his credit.
Bergerson grew up on a farm west of Forest Lake in Columbus Township and was single and working as a house mover when the military service called. He returned to the area after the war, married and raised a family here.
In early years following the war, he resumed work as a house mover and later spent time as a truck driver. He retired in 1978 after working his final 16 years as a welder for Foley Brothers Construction.
Looking back on his military service, Bergerson said he long ago accepted his call to duty.
ìThey say there will always be wars,î he said. ìYou had to do it. Iíve got no complaints. Sometimes you wouldnít get any food for a couple of days and in the winter it was cold.î
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