{"id":5357,"date":"2016-07-01T08:00:40","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T12:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/?p=5357"},"modified":"2024-05-31T17:44:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T21:44:06","slug":"on-the-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2016\/on-the-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

SAINT LAURENT-SUR-MER, France<\/em> \u2014 The sand of Normandy\u2019s coast is cold on Omaha Beach on a late October day, but families take advantage of a sunny, cloudless afternoon. A father is holding a baby wearing only a diaper over the waves, and the child laughs as a wave tickles its feet. Nearby, another father tells his three children to stop building sandcastles. Their beach day is at its end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forty yards away from the vacationers, two collections of 20-feet-high swords jut out of the sand and pierce the air. They bookend two steel posts in front of more jagged structures. This is Les Braves<\/em>, the monument on the shore paying tribute to the Allied troops who landed here \u2009\u2014 \u2009and on other Normandy beaches, including Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword\u2009 \u2014 \u2009on June 6, 1944.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was on that morning that Operation Overlord and a new path to an Allied victory in Europe unfolded. More than 160,000 Allied troops hit these shores as the invasion began, and by day\u2019s end, 10,000 of those men were dead, wounded or missing. Les Braves<\/em>, along with other memorials and museums on the 50-mile shoreline of Normandy, promises that the world will never forget the men who overcame the choppy water, chilled misery, seasickness and the spray of German machine guns to make the invasion of Normandy the essential moment of World War II and perhaps the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s decisive for the last 100 years of history,\u2019\u2019 says Dan Bolger, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general who teaches military history at NC State. \u201cIt\u2019s decisive that America is a superpower. If someone said, \u2018Name the location where that happened,\u2019 Normandy is it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Allied
A photograph captures how quickly Normandy\u2019s beaches changed from a scene of serenity to a battleground once Allied troops landed on D-Day. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Three miles up the coastline is the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, where 9,387 marble crosses and Stars of David as white as new bars of soap are lined up on a green lawn overlooking the English Channel. Six NC State alumni are buried here, and scores of others were among the young men who fought and died as the war unfolded on these shores. Many played pivotal roles in preparing for and taking part in the invasion on those days in early June of 1944; some came to Normandy in the weeks and months following D-Day, making their way inland to France as the Allies surged through Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stories of these soldiers \u2014 from one of the most famous names in NC State\u2019s history to a star engineering student to a tobacco researcher \u2014 have been stored away in dusty file cabinets in the basement of the Park Alumni Center. Some of the files hold only a brief obituary; others are filled with news clippings, wedding announcements, military records and photographs. There are letters sent to the Alumni Association, some penned by family members who wanted to make sure that their son\u2019s alma mater knew of their lives and fates. Others are from the soldiers who were at the center of the war\u2019s storm, but who still felt the need to reach out to the place where they had studied and planned their futures \u2014 futures that would never be realized. What follows are some of their stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capt. Warren Wooden \u201938<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Army, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division, Baltimore, Md.  |  1914\u2009\u2013\u20091944<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Warren
All headshots courtesy of alumni records. All gravestone photographs by Chris Saunders.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the mid-1930s, Warren Wooden \u201938 carved out a memorable career as a rugged member of the Wolfpack\u2019s football squad. Originally from Baltimore, Md., he played guard on the offensive line, even being named \u201cThis Week\u2019s Wolf\u201d one season. \u201cWarren gets the place of honor this week for his fine play throughout last season and his steady show of improvement this year,\u201d reads a news clipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Warren
Capt. Warren Wooden was a vital part of NC State’s offensive line, above, and was celebrated as “This Week’s Wolf,” below left. He loved outdoor activities, like fishing, below right. Fish pic courtesy of Jane McCommons. Others courtesy of alumni records.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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After college, Wooden married Betsy Jane Senter of Raleigh, who wore to the ceremony a rose tweed suit with a corsage made of an orchid and lilies of the valley. The couple, after a honeymoon to Florida, moved to Bassett, Va. Wooden, who held a forestry degree, worked at Fairy Stone State Park and loved to play pinochle and poker for money. The couple had a son, and a daughter was born after Wooden left for England in 1942. In a letter to his wife dated June 7, 1944, Wooden offered an account from his station in England, across the English Channel from Normandy, of the invasion\u2019s opening chapter: \u201cYesterday morning at about 6 a.m. there was [sic]<\/em> so many planes in the sky and they made so much noise that I was awakened from my sleep \u2014 went outside the hut and just marveled at the sound \u2014 knew something was cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYesterday morning at about 6 a.m. there was [sic]<\/em> so many planes in the sky and they made so much noise that I was awakened from my sleep \u2014 went outside the hut and just marveled at the sound \u2014 knew something was cooking.\u201d
\u2014\u2009Capt. Warren Wooden \u201938<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Wooden acknowledged in the letter, which his daughter still holds onto, that he had not written in a long time, saying, \u201c. . . not much that I can write about.\u201d He promised some interesting stories from the war, but said he was worried about putting them in his letters for fear of the censors. He begged her not to worry about him and to take care of their children. He ended it with two simple orders: \u201cStay sweet and member I love you. Your Woody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month later, the Army captain landed on Utah Beach on July 9 as part of the effort to take Saint-Lo in Lower Normandy. He was killed 17 days later in the hedgerows, memorialized in the Normandy American Cemetery with a marble cross bearing his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wooden letter courtesy of Jane McCommons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1st Lt. James Lemmond \u201943<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Army Air Forces, 451st Bomber Squadron, 322nd Bomber Group, Monroe, N.C.  |  1921\u2009\u2009\u2013\u20091944<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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James \u201cBuck\u201d Lemmond \u201943 grew up one of nine children in Monroe, N.C. In high school, he was an exceptional athlete who starred in football, baseball and boxing (TKO\u2019d only once), and was president of the National Honor Society. He came to NC State to study mechanical engineering, joining the National Guard and transferring to the Air Corps. There\u2019s a Lemmond family legend alive today about a time Buck buzzed over his hometown to say hello on a flight to Washington, D.C. \u201cI was just a little kid the last time I saw him,\u201d says his brother Vaughn Lemmond, 89, who lives in Monroe. \u201cI was sick. My mother let me get up to see the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"James
1st Lt. James Lemmond, known as \u201cBuck\u201d to his family, flew more than 50 missions in his B-26 Marauder he named \u201cthe Carrie B.\u201d after his wife. Photograph courtesy of Vaughn Lemmond.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A short time before he was deployed to England, he married Carrie Broom. When Lemmond took his flying prowess to Europe, he targeted railroad houses and yards, trains and bomb platforms on more than 55 missions in his B-26 Marauder, which he called the \u201cCarrie B.\u201d And to further remember his wife, he carried a little plastic baby shoe on each mission, which he credited for his luck and survival. The shoe also served as a promise that he would make it back stateside to start a family with his wife, a promise Lemmond couldn\u2019t fulfill. His last mission was a night bombing that targeted a bomb platform between Abbeville and Doullens in France. His plane never made it back, and he went missing over France July 8, 1944. Lemmond was declared dead the next year. In a note typed to the Alumni Association in 1945, his father explained: \u201cThe War Dept have [sic<\/em>] notified me that according to the Laws and regurlations [sic<\/em>] they would have to delcair [sic<\/em>] him killed in action after the expiration of one year and A Day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maj. Alexander Newton \u201933<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Army, 4th Armored Division, Knoxville, Tenn.  |  1910\u2009\u2013\u20091944<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Alexander Newton \u201933 loved world travel, and his time as an engineer in petroleum exploration and as a major in the Army\u2019s infantry armored corps took him across the globe, including through the Middle East. Newton\u2019s writing is filled with vivid descriptions of the sights in Iraq, Syria and Palestine. And he wrote of how important it was to hear news from Raleigh. \u201cAbout all I ever hear is the news that comes in the Alumni News<\/em>, and that is several months late, but quite a bit better than none at all,\u201d he wrote in a 1940 letter to C.L. Mann \u201999, a professor of civil engineering at NC State. \u201cThe entire football season will probably be over before I hear the results of the first game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Alexander
Maj. Alexander Newton loved world travel and wrote poetic letters to the Alumni Association describing exotic locales in the Middle East. Photograph courtesy of alumni records. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Newton also wrote of his time prospecting for oil in the Hammar marshes along the lower Euphrates River. \u201cYou get to see a lot of very very old country, and the Garden of Eden is supposed to be located in the middle of the country I am working,\u201d he wrote. It was that love of foreign sites his mother lamented in a 1945 letter to H.W. Taylor \u201926, \u201927 MS, director of alumni affairs, informing NC State of her son\u2019s death. He had been killed in action either in Normandy or Brittany, France, according to his military record. \u201cHe used to say, \u2018so much beauty in the world mother\u2019\u2014\u2009shame he won\u2019t see it,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI hope where he has gone is so beautiful he will not mind what he missed here.\u201d Newton was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe used to say, ‘so much beauty in the world mother\u2019\u2014shame he won’t see it. I hope where he has gone is so beautiful he will not mind what he missed here.\u201d
\u2014\u2009Mother of Maj. Alexander Newton \u201933<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

1st Lt. John Mauney \u201940<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Army, 66th Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, Lincolnton, N.C.  |  1919\u2009\u2013\u20091944<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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In his senior picture in the Agromeck<\/em>, John Mauney \u201940 looks professorial, wearing glasses and looking straight ahead. Mauney came to France in 1944 soon after the first day of the invasion as a highly decorated 1st lieutenant in the 2nd Armored Division. Mauney had taken on tanks in a North African battle near Mehdia, Morocco, according to a war department account cited in a news clipping. \u201cHis tank attacked two of the enemy tanks and drove them both away,\u201d the account read. \u201cHis own tank was thrice hit and the periscope put out of commission, so Mauney mounted the turret, and exposed to the fire of the enemy\u2019s small arms, directed the action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once in France, Mauney, a 25-year-old from Lincolnton, N.C., prepared for what he described in a July 7, 1944, letter to the Alumni Association as \u201cthe big push.\u201d He wrote of running into other NC State boys while stationed in England and some of whom were with him. \u201cLt. Jack Getsinger \u201940, is in the 66th A.R. with me and so is Lt. E.V. Helms (\u201938 or \u201939),\u201d he wrote. \u201cJack was wounded in the heel in the invasion of Sicily, and spent several months in a North African hospital, but he\u2019s back with us now. E.V. is sporting a purple heart, too, from Sicily and a Soldiers Medal from Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n