My hubby's father landed on Utah Beach that morning, close to the cliffs and did not get shot. He described wading through what he thought was red oil slick water, but was actually soldier's blood. He was army infantryman with secondary position as cook since he was a TN country boy who knew how to slaughter animals and prepare them. He said how they were very hungry as MRIs weren't sufficient to match through to Germany! He stayed around Germany about 6 months after landing and also, never spoke too much of the fighting, just geographical descriptions of countrysides and towns, people. He did valiantly earn a bronze star saving German citizens caught in a crossfire crossing the minefields 4x to pull out 4 people using only his bayonet to pull himself forward and feel for hard objects (mines) to go around. Correction by hubby: his Papi only was 1 of several volunteers asked to go get the German civilians. And probably did not do 4x crossings, but we don't know. He was in the group of us soldiers.