Voices of D-Day: The Story of the Allied Invasion, Told by Those Who Were There

A project conducted by the Eisenhower Center at the University of New Orleans, this selection of oral histories (augmented with excerpts from published memoirs) comprises the recollections of the Normandy beachhead on June 6, 1944, by American, British, Canadian and German soldiers plus a handful of French civilians. Pathfinders, commandoes, airborne troops, glider pilots, landing-craft coxswains, infantrymen, combat engineers, men of all ranks, recall the confusion and disorientation of that dreadful 24-hour period with its shocking tactical confrontations, unexpected terrors and impersonal slaughter. Through these vivid, succinctly spoken accounts, readers experience vicariously one of history's great military moments. Drez is assistant director of the Eisenhower Center. Photos. (May)