Published: Saturday, Jun. 06, 2009

Updated: Saturday, Jun. 06, 2009

D-Day memories bring local vets together

D-Day vets met, became friends 60 years after Normandy

MANATEE

Sixty-five years ago today, an estimated 156,000 Allied troops braved withering German fire as they came ashore on the beaches of Normandy. Within a month, 1 million troops would be pushing inland from Normandy, opening a second front against Hitler’s Third Reich and speeding an end to World War II.

In that mass of humanity and chaos, it would have been astounding if Robert Douglas and Bob Kline had gotten acquainted.

But that would not happen until 2004, when the two D-Day veterans and Manatee County residents met in France, when they returned for the 60th anniversary of the largest invasion in world history.

There in Paris, and on the beaches of Normandy, they became fast friends, buddies with a shared past.

This week, they met at Douglas’ Ellenton home to look over photographs, memorabilia and swap stories.

In 2004, both men met actor Tom Hanks in France, who had starred in Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” which follows a group of U.S. soldiers who come ashore on the bloody beaches of Normandy.

Many veterans say the film comes closest of any to capturing the carnage and confusion of war.

Kline, a native of Palma Sola who was only 16 when he fudged his age and enlisted in the U.S. Navy, greeted Hanks by calling out “Forest Gump,” another memorable starring role for Hanks.

To his surprise, Hanks struck up a conversation and asked Kline for his recollections of the battle.

Kline, now 83, was a crew member aboard the USS Berkshire, also known as LST 288. The massive ship carried tanks and hundreds of troops and was also outfitted with a surgical unit.

Even before LST 288 landed on the Normandy coast, a stream of wounded troops were brought to the ship for surgery and other medical care, he said.

The crew of LST 288 joined an armada of thousands of allied ships sailing from the British coast about midnight on June 5.

The skipper made sure the Army troops on LST 288 were well fed, knowing many would not survive the invasion. But the roast beef and ice cream didn’t survive seasick stomachs.

“It was a bunch of sick soldiers,” Kline recalled.

The beach was a junk yard of wrecked boats and military equipment, and LST 288 did not land until late at night on June 6, and didn’t finish unloading until nearly daybreak the next day.

Many of the soldiers who came off landing craft stepped into deep water, and if their heavy field pack was not adjusted properly, they would pitch head-first into the water and drown because they were unable to right themselves, Kline said.

He also remembers battleships standing offshore, firing their guns over the allied fleet of landing craft at German positions.

“You would hear the shells going over, making a crackling noise,” Kline said.

Kline had just been a “dumb kid from Northwest Bradenton” at the time, he now says, too busy and interested in everything going on to be scared.

Although he saw unspeakable tragedy, it seemed to “roll off from you.” It was his way of coping with being in a bad spot at a bad time.