80th Anniversary of D-Day: Remembering Newton’s Norman F. Grossman - Omaha Beach Survivor

Today (June 6, 2024) is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of France as part of what Dwight Eisenhower called “The Great Crusade,” to liberate Europe from Nazi and Fascist tyranny and oppression.

As hundreds of patrons gather this evening in Boston for the Massachusetts Historical Society "Making History Gala," I'm sure this special D-Day anniversary will be a topic of conversation amongst the attendees.

Newton Citizens in the Service of the United States

Patriotic residents of Newton, MA were among the 16 million Americans who served in the armed forces in World War II.

Through its multiple memorials and markers, the City of Newton honors both residents who died, those who survived in wars going back to when the Newton Militia on was mustered on April 19, 1775 to fight at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, at the start of the American Revolution.

In 2009, through the research of intern Susan Hinman Waldman,  Historic Newton posted an impressive online compilation of Newton Monuments and Markers which provides an excellent guide to memorials across The Garden City.

On June 6, 1944, nearly 160,000 Allied troops crossed the English Channel and landed in Normandy, of whom 4,414 died on The Longest Dqy, with others from Newton living on to fight another day.

As Tom Mountain wrote in a May 2020 Newton Tab article: 

“No corner of Newton was spared the tragedy of World War II. Every neighborhood, every block, every other street it seemed suffered the loss of someone who was killed in the war. Of (the) 269 soldiers, sailors, and airmen from Newton who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War II, at least 131 were killed fighting the Nazis.”

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Beyond honoring those who died on D-Day, let us not forget the many service members who survived that fateful day and continued to fight until Germany’s surrender on May 9, 1945, and beyond:

Members of The Greatest Generation— vets who returned home, and who with their spouses, contributed to the historic 20 year post-war economic boom.

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Newtonian Norman F. Grossman - D-Day Survivor

One of Newton’s hometown heroes survived the carnage of D-Day was Private First Class Norman Grossman, who left his studies at the University of Pennsylvania to enlist in the U.S. Army at the age of 18. In the early morning of June 6, 1944 PFC Grossman landed as a member of Company L, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division on Omaha Beach.

As he recalled ten years ago, in a New England Cable News segment, on arriving at the bloody beachhead, Grossman jumped off his Higgins boat landing craft into waist-deep water; could “see the trace of bullets going over my head,” and heard wounded colleagues “calling for medics or for their mother.”

German machine guns pinned down the soldiers as they struggled to get off the beach. Seeking cover, many soldiers who jumped into sandpits created by Nazi mortars suffered third-degree burns, as the explosions had turned sand into red hot glass.

By day’s end, 50% of his company of 250 soldiers were either wounded or dead.

Landmines nearly blew up Grossman and his buddies, but he survived 40 days anxious days/nights fighting in the hedgerows of Normandy, up to the eve of the Battle of Saint-Lô  when he was wounded in a mortar attack.

In 2014, as part of its Veterans History Project, the Library of Congress interviewed Norman Grossman to capture his personal narrative as a witness to war, and the significance of serving as a Jew in the fight against the Nazis.

Archived online as a 40 minute video, Grossman’s interview is compelling. 

Watch it here

Norman Grossman died on died March 21, 2017, just three years after recording his video testimony.

Eight decades after D-Day, with about 131 World War II Veterans dying each day, just 87,000 (est.) are still alive.

On this historic anniversary, hope you’ll join me in remembering Norman, and all Massachusetts crusaders who fought on D-Day to bring liberty and freedom to occupied Europe.