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ntnvRecord-Eagl e/Tessa LightyLarry Lampton talks about his experience being part of the Navy during World War II.TC veteran remembers D-DayFROM PAGE 1ALampton, now 92, maintains he isn't a hero. The framed medals and memorabilia lining a wall in his den tell a different story.A textbook with a picture of Lampton as he was pulled from the water by the U.S. Coast Guard on that day and a newspaper clipping showing his head wrapped in bandages from being injured in the attack begin to describe the veteran’s D-Day experiences.D-DAY“‘Shell bursts, off the starboard bow!’ And then the next one I heard was ‘Shell bursts, off the port bow!”' Lampton said, recalling the day of the attack.D-Day marked the start of the Normandy invasion, which was one of the largest amphibious attacks in history with 156,000 American, Canadian and British men. Lampton was sent to a specific section of the beach, which had the codename Omaha Beach. At Omaha there would be nearly 2,000 American casualties as they faced heavy German fire.Lampton was not yet 20 years old, working in the engine room of LCF 31, a landing craft assigned to lead bigger ships through the water.Then everything went black. He couldn’t see hishands in front of him. He had no idea how long he had been knocked unconscious and didn’t know if he was underwater. Finding an emergency escape hatch, he struggled out of the ship.“That’s the only time I got scared, I think,” Lampton said. The image of water filling the ship as he opened the hatch haunted him for years — causing him to lose sleep and not talk much about his experience during the war.He felt alone in the rough water as the battle raged on the shore nearby.Lampton still can close his eyes and remember fading in and out of consciousness, only kept alive by the protective clothing he was required to wear. It was cumbersome gear that made working in the hot engine room miserable. After what seemed like hours, he found a U.S. CoastGuard cutter, which was deployed as a rescue ship, and two men pulled him and one more soldier from the water.After Normandy, Lamp-ton was given 30 days leave, a Purple Heart and a new assignment to head to Okinawa.HARD HEAD“I should be glad you have a hard head, said Elaine Lampton, Larry's wife of almost 70 years. She smiled at her husband as the couple sat at their dining room table eating dinner. She disagrees with him when he says he isn’t a hero.Initially, Larry hadn’t talked to his wife or their children about the realities of war, but in recent years he has talked more. Elaine said it was months after the war before he said much of anything.“I think I kinda got over it a little bit. It got so I couldn’t even remembernames anymore of my shipmates. Your memory just fades but the things that happen stand out sharp,” Larry said.He has stories of chasing rats from the ship, dealing with other sailors experiencing sea-sickness and more gruesome tales of battle. He remembers dates, and specific interactions with people, but can’t remember their names.Larry, despite the life-changing wartime experiences more than 70 years ago, sticks to his assertion he isn’t a hero.More than 16 million Americans served in World War II and nearly 500,000 of them didn’t return home.“We were all there but we weren’t heros ... we were just there,” Larry said.
Newspaper Details
Traverse City Record Eagle
Traverse City, Michigan, US
Fri, Nov 11, 2016
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Traverse A.
MI, USA 10 Sep 2018
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