George Smith Morris 175th Inf. Reg. 29th Inf. Div.

The 175th had been scheduled to land on Omaha Beach, in the afternoon of D-day. The day went by, as we have seen above, with much confusion and congestion on the beach. The schedule had to be abandoned after the first two waves and the 175th saw itself forced to sit the first day out on board of the ships that they had boarded on June the fourth. The forced prolonged stay on board of the transport ships didn't do much good to the sea-sickness of the men. Others had told George that the average machine-gunner, of which he was one, only had three to four minutes to live in combat. Being a young shy boy, that had been drafted directly from the countryside of Kentucky, he believed these stories. It was no wonder that George was one of the men that was still sick of fear when he landed with the 175th regiment in mid morning of June the 7th. They found that the beach was covered with the dead bodies of hundreds of comrades. On the place he landed, he was forced to walk on top of bodies, because there was no where else to go. Some of the men mentally snapped at the sight of this horror. Small groups were still fighting near the beach. The men of the 175th were directed off the beach as soon as possible an advanced on their first objective, leaving the horror of the beach behind.