I came in on the beach at 9:00. Artillery was still landing here and there on the beach. Most of it was going overhead however, I guess they were trying to hit the landingcrafts of the men that followed us in later waves. I had not received any special training in mine detection, but after my unit had landed on the beach I was assigned to a group of three men that received orders to mark all the mines on the beach, to prevent any more casualties from mines among the incoming troops. The first men in our small group was carrying a mine-detector. I followed him with white tape, to mark any mine we came across. I simply put a stick in the ground next to the mine with the tape attached to it. Somehow something went wrong with our procedure, because all of a sudden the soldier carrying the detector stepped on a mine. He himself was instantly killed, the other guy in my group that also had the job to mark the mines was wounded. I myself was very fortunate, because I was far enough away not to be injured by this terrible incident. Later that day a P-51 Mustang came in flying low over the beach. The pilot must have been really confused, because he strafed the soldiers on the beach with his machine-guns. Up to this day I can still not understand how the pilot mistook us for German soldiers. I did not see any casualties as a result of his dumb mistake.
I came in on the beach at 9:00. Artillery was still landing here and there on the beach. Most of it was going overhead however, I guess they were trying to hit the landingcrafts of the men that followed us in later waves. I had not received any special training in mine detection, but after my unit had landed on the beach I was assigned to a group of three men that received orders to mark all the mines on the beach, to prevent any more casualties from mines among the incoming troops. The first men in our small group was carrying a mine-detector. I followed him with white tape, to mark any mine we came across. I simply put a stick in the ground next to the mine with the tape attached to it. Somehow something went wrong with our procedure, because all of a sudden the soldier carrying the detector stepped on a mine. He himself was instantly killed, the other guy in my group that also had the job to mark the mines was wounded. I myself was very fortunate, because I was far enough away not to be injured by this terrible incident. Later that day a P-51 Mustang came in flying low over the beach. The pilot must have been really confused, because he strafed the soldiers on the beach with his machine-guns. Up to this day I can still not understand how the pilot mistook us for German soldiers. I did not see any casualties as a result of his dumb mistake.
