When we drove from Paris we went to the farthest point of our tour and then hop skipped along all day to the other points of interest. The first quick photo stop was a memorial dedicated by the National Guard to Frank Peregory.
Frank Peregory is one of the names that glint especially bright in the Normandy sunlight.
On the overcast morning of June 6, 1944, choice and fate had placed Peregoy in a landing craft racing toward destiny. It was D-Day, and their destination was a stretch of sand codenamed Omaha Beach.
By day’s end it had earned another name — “Bloody Omaha.” Some 3,000 Americans were killed or wounded trying to cross that narrow killing floor.
Peregoy held the rank of technical sergeant and was a member of Company K. He managed to get off the beach without a scratch, but the Germans continued to contest every inch of soil.
On June 8, 1944, Peregoy’s outfit became involved in a fierce firefight when it approached bristling German defenses at Grandcamp. The enemy held the high ground, and was able to rake the American positions with machine gun fire.
When neither artillery nor tank fire could dislodge the Germans from their strong defensive position, Peregoy decided to act. He leaped up from his position and headed across a minefield straight into the teeth of withering gunfire.
John Taylor was a sergeant in Company K, and was with Peregoy that day. During an interview with The Daily Progress in 1994 he related what he saw.
“Somebody yelled, ‘Look at Peregoy,’ ” Taylor said. “When I looked over the top of the hedgerow where I was at, I see him going.
“He’s running up that slope firing his M-1, pow, pow, pow. When the clip would fly out, he’d stick another in it. After he had gone quite a ways he starts pulling out hand grenades and throwing them around.
“I don’t know where he got them all from. Then, just before he got up to the ditch where the Germans were, he put his bayonet onto his rifle and jumped into the trench.”
By the time Peregoy got finished dealing with the Germans in the trench, he had killed eight and captured 35 others. His actions so inspired the Americans looking on that they jumped up with a yell and overran the German position.
Peregoy never lived long enough to known he had earned the Congressional Medal of Honour for his deeds that day. On June 14 he was writing a letter to his wife back home in Charlottesville.
Peregoy hadn’t finished the letter before getting orders to attack the next hedgerow. A few minutes later he lay dead, riddled with machine gun bullets.
There are dozens of stories like this as you walk the shores of Normandy. This trip had to be short and to the point with eight people in tow it would not be possible for me or anyone to exclusively explore the individuals site each wish to see along the coast. But his memorial was quite special so we did ask the driver to stop so that we could take a few quick pictures.
Life is good ... enjoy
Auto Guru in Europe
No comments:
Post a Comment