Omaha Beach and Beyond: The Long March of Sergeant Bob Slaughter

by John Slaughter, Alex Kershaw (Foreword by)

Overview

"Slaughter vividly conveys the reality of combat during World War II in his book with sweeping passages that literally place his reader on the battlefield beside him." Belvoir Eagle

Before D-Day, regular army soldiers called the National Guardsmen of Virginia's 116th Infantry Regiment "Home Nannies" and "Weekend Warriors" and worse. On June 6, 1944, on Omaha Beach, however, these proud Virginians who carried the legacy of the famed Stonewall Brigade showed the regular army and the world what true valor really was. In this moving World War II memoir, the author captures the life of GI Joe from pre-Pearl Harbor days through training, deployment overseas, and more training. All leads up to D-Day and Normandy on June 6, 1944, when Sergeant Bob Slaughter came across Omaha Beach with Company D of the 116th Infantry and the Bedford Boys.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780760337349
Publisher:	Zenith Press
Publication date:	11/08/2009
Edition description:	First, Paperback reissue
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	398,955
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

John Robert Slaughter enlisted in the Virginia National Guard well before Pearl Harbor in early 1941 at the age of sixteen. Just twenty at the end of the war, in 1947 he married and settled in Roanoke, Virginia. Upon his retirement from the Roanoke Times in 1987, Slaughter, who had become active in veterans affairs over the years, started to work on the creation of a memorial to commemorate the sacrifice of the American soldiers at Normandy. On June 6, 2001, the National D-Day Memorial was dedicated. Bob Slaughter lives in Roanoke, Virginia.Alex Kershaw is author of the widely acclaimed World War II histories The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice, The Longest Winter: The Battle of the Bulge and the Epic Story of World War II's Most Decorated Platoon, and The Few: the American "Knights of the Air" Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain. He lives in Bennington, Vermont.

John Robert Slaughter enlisted in the Virginia National Guard well before Pearl Harbor in early 1941 at the age of sixteen. A veteran jopurnalist, he retired from the Roanoke Times in 1987. Active in veteran affairs for many years, Slaughter then began to work for the creation of a memorial to commemorate the sacrifice of the American soldiers at Normandy. On June 6, 2001, the National D-Day Memorial was dedicated. Bob Slaughter lives in Roanoke, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Contents

 

 

Foreword by Alex Kershaw 

Introduction

Chapter One: How It All Began

Chapter Two: Stateside Training

Chapter Three: Going Abroad

Chapter Four: The 29th Rangers

Chapter Five: Assault Training

Chapter Six: The D-Day Plan

Chapter Seven: Rough Ride to Hell: Omaha Beach, Dog Green

Chapter Eight: Omaha to Saint-Lô

Chapter Nine: Saint-Lô and Beyond

Chapter Ten: Shrapnel Wound at Hill 203

Chapter Eleven: Recovery and Return

Chapter Twelve: A Long Winter into Spring

Chapter Thirteen: My War Ends

Epilogue

Appendix I: Eyewitness Accounts: Omaha Beach, 29th Infantry

Appendix II: Tricky Tides at Omaha Beach

Appendix III: Fatalities, 1944–1945: D Company, 116th Infantry Regiment

Glossary 
Acknowledgments

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

I have been privileged to know Bob Slaughter for almost twenty years, a period during which I observed his passion to keep alive the spirit of those men, living and dead, who participated in the great D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. His commitment to the history of that great event, in which he was a participant, has never wavered. In Omaha Beach and Beyond: The Long March of Bob Slaughter readers can now learn firsthand the story of this remarkable American soldier and patriot.

—Joseph Balkoski, Maryland National Guard Command Historian and

author, Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy

 

The long march of Sergeant Bob Slaughter as told in Omaha Beach and Beyond gives the reader the memories that Bob has lived with every day for the past sixty-three years.  After reading this, his memories will live with you too, forever!

—Major Richard D. Winters, Distinguished Service Cross, E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne (“Band of Brothers”), U.S. Army, World War II

 

Bob Slaughter’s recollection of the fighting in France after the D-Day invasion is a firsthand account of a soldier’s experience that tells it like it was for all of us who were there.                     

—Staff Sergeant Walter D. Ehlers, Congressional Medal of Honor,

Company D, 18th Infantry, 1st Division, U.S. Army, World War II

 

Omaha Beach and Beyond is an excellent account of a Ranger-trained 29th Division infantryman in World War II.  It’s a quick, exciting, and rewarding read.

—1st Sergeant Leonard G. Lomell, Distinguished Service Cross, Company D,

2nd Ranger Battalion, Battlefield Commission, U.S. Army, World War II

 

 

Belvoir Eagle, July 25, 2007

“Slaughter vividly conveys the reality of combat during World War II in his book with sweeping passages that literally place his reader on the battlefield beside him.”

Editorial Reviews

I have been privileged to know Bob Slaughter for almost twenty years, a period during which I observed his passion to keep alive the spirit of those men, living and dead, who participated in the great D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. His commitment to the history of that great event, in which he was a participant, has never wavered. In Omaha Beach and Beyond: The Long March of Bob Slaughter readers can now learn firsthand the story of this remarkable American soldier and patriot. —Joseph Balkoski, Maryland National Guard Command Historian and author, Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy

The long march of Sergeant Bob Slaughter as told in Omaha Beach and Beyond gives the reader the memories that Bob has lived with every day for the past sixty-three years.  After reading this, his memories will live with you too, forever! —Major Richard D. Winters, Distinguished Service Cross, E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne (“Band of Brothers”), U.S. Army, World War II

Bob Slaughter’s recollection of the fighting in France after the D-Day invasion is a firsthand account of a soldier’s experience that tells it like it was for all of us who were there.—Staff Sergeant Walter D. Ehlers, Congressional Medal of Honor, Company D, 18th Infantry, 1st Division, U.S. Army, World War II

Omaha Beach and Beyond is an excellent account of a Ranger-trained 29th Division infantryman in World War II.  It’s a quick, exciting, and rewarding read. —1st Sergeant Leonard G. Lomell, Distinguished Service Cross, Company D, 2nd Ranger Battalion, Battlefield Commission, U.S. Army, World War II

Belvoir Eagle, July 25, 2007

“Slaughter vividly conveys the reality of combat during World War II in his book with sweeping passages that literally place his reader on the battlefield beside him.

From the Publisher