It was 4:30 in the morning when Matt woke up. It was June 6, 1944. Matt sat up in his bunk and looked around to his unit. He was on a Navy Destroyer called, O'l Faithful. They along with countless other ships were off the coast of Normandy, France. This would be the most important day in all of World War Two. Matt lie awake as his unit awoke all around him in the barracks. He was the squad leader of the Bloody 1st. One by one they all woke up. Today they would make a push to kick the Nazis out of France. When the whole squad was up and ready they went to the Mess Hall to get some breakfast. They all filled up on eggs, sausage, and ham. It was 4:30 and they're briefing wasn't until 5:10 am so they had a little time to enjoy the morning. At 5:10 am they gathered on the deck with other platoons and the sergeant gave a speech. In less than 30 minutes they would be sent into crafts and sail straight into the fiery pits of war.

    After the briefing, they loaded up onto the Higgins Craft. They had 12 people per craft and throughout the first wave forces, there were hundreds of crafts. The crafts started their journey as the destroyers laid out fire across the beach. In front of them was Omaha Beach. It looked more like hell than a beach though. With every explosion, a fiery inferno rose through the air as the 22mm shells hit the beach. They had 20 minutes until they hit the beach. For 10 minutes nerves were high. You could feel the tension. The only sound was explosions, the sea around them, and the soldiers throwing up. With 10 minutes left the craft was lit up with machine gun fire. "How are they still there after all that!" Yelled Matt. The driver was about to respond as a billed tore through the metal front f the craft slamming into the front of the drivers head and zooming out the back. The driver fell down to the side with blood rushing onto the floor. Matt took control of the wheel. He had to steer it to the beach or they would never make it. Matt looked to his right and saw in the distance a squadron of Stuka Dive Bombers coming their way opening up fire on other crafts, and bombing others. As they got closer and closer it became apparent that they were the next target. The front bomber dropped a bomb on the craft beside them, causing it to explode, sending shrapnel flying in their direction. The second bomber dropped a bomb on Matt's craft but it barely missed, instead exploding next to their craft violently shaking the craft and sending three men flying overboard. The last thing heard from them were their screams. All Matt could do was steer to the beach watching bullets shred men in crafts all around them. Matt was about to hit the beach and yelled, "Dropping the ramp!" As the ramp dropped another craft on fire came speeding towards them and slapped into his. The impact knocked everyone down. The commotion caught the eye of a Nazi soldier who aimed at Matt's craft and opened fire. Bullets lit up the soldiers on the boat. Bullets shredded the men and pieces of flesh flew everywhere and blood splattered all around. Limbs were torn straight off of people and bullets tore straight through some. Most of the men on the boat were dead but Mat and a few others were still alive. A bullet hit the engine and a sizzling sound started. Matt and two others climbed onto the edge of the boat. A bullet tore into the skull of one of them causing his lifeless body to fall back onto the boat. Another bullet tore into the man beside Matts' chest going straight through catching Matts arm on the way out. The bullet only skimmed Matt and he fell over into the water below as the engine exploded. Matt had finally made it onto the beach.  

    Matt got behind cover with other soldiers. They were under heavy fire and had to move. Matt yelled to everyone to keep moving. He could see the fear in their eyes. "Let's go!" Matt yelled and started to run as fast as he could to the next piece of cover. He slid into cover and looked back to see one of the men too scared to move get blown up by a stray bomb. MG fire tore one of the men who followed him into pieces. Matt looked around as the others made it safely to him. All around on the beach soldiers were being torn apart. There were three bunkers. Those three bunkers had over twenty MG 42 that were shredding soldiers across the beach. Matt got up again and ran for the beachhead. As he neared a bomb struck next to him sending him flying into a pit, knocking him unconscious. When he came around he mustered all his possible strength to hobble to the beachhead. There he regained full consciousness. His adrenaline was running at a high. The barbed wire exploded and Matt along with every other soldier there. Around 50 soldiers ran for the bunkers. One got hid with a round from a destroyer. The round hit just the right spot and the bunker exploded and came crashing down. Time seemed to slow down. Bullets flew everywhere. Louder than anything was the screams of wounded men. The ground seemed to be lifted up with how many bullets sent sand flying. They dove into the trenches killing any Nazi standing between them and the bunkers. A flamethrower unit was around the corner burning anything that moved, turning the Nazis into barbeque. A Nazi flanked and shot the Americans fuel tank on his back. It exploded killing him and ten others around him, with a giant explosion. They cleared the trench and broke off into two groups. One would take the first bunker and the other the second. As they ran for their designated bunker more reinforcements made it passed the barbed wire. Matt blew open the steel door to the first bunker and on the other side were four Nazis... waiting for them.

    The two men who rushed in first were shredded by STG 44 7.62 rounds and KAR 98 7.62 rounds. The bullets tore into them shredding them. They flew back onto the ground with a thud splattering blood all over the ground and walls. Matt pulled his Tompson around and shot one of the Nazis in the head. He didn't let off the trigger and two other soldiers rushed up next to him and they sprayed the whole room with bullets. In a matter of seconds, every Nazi was on the ground bloodied and dead. The only problem was, there were still two floors left to clear. And they knew the Americans were there. They crept up the stairs unsure of what was to come. Matt was the third going up the stairs and good thing he was because the second the Nazis saw the first two MG fire exploded all around the walls taking one of the American's head clean off, spraying blood and chunks of who knows what all over the wall. The second got so many bullets into his midsection his guts and intestines were visible and partly protruding as he toppled down the stairs. Matt along with the others rushed the stairs firing at what was above. Bullets tore into the wall and soldiers on both sides. It happened in a flash. After seconds every Nazi was dead and four Americans were dead on the ground. The whole floor looked like a slaughterhouse, covered in blood and chunks of flesh. All was silent for a few moments until, clank, clank, clank. Coming down the stairs was a Nazi covered in body armour holding an unmounted MG 42. He immediately opened fire on Matt and the five others. A bullet nearly hit Matt but shocked him enough to trip down the stairs. The others weren't as fortunate and were torn to pieces. Their bodies fell down the stairs lifeless some with missing arms or legs. Matt had mad adrenaline and grabbed a grenade from a fallen soldier, pulled the pin, and threw it up the stairs. He ran halfway up, planning to finish the job when the grenade exploded. His plan didn't work out as expected. Instead, the grenade went off and was the final straw for the already unstable floor. The floor gave way and the Nazi fell through with a horrendous thud and scream he was dead. Dust flooded the whole building and Matt fought for air. After an intense coughing fit, he regained his breath. He still had to clear an entire floor but was alone and had no way up. If he didn't figure something out the Nazis would continue to take American lives. As if on queue the other bunker came crashing down with an explosion. That's it, thought Matt. He needed explosives. Maybe a satchel charge or two, or four. That would do the trick. He searched the corpses of his fallen allies and enemies. He found no satchel charges but he found about twelve grenades and some C-4 remote explosives. He had no detonator so would have to blow it up with the grenades. Matt quickly got to work and placed the grenades in four groups of three and the three C-4 on the front of the bunker. He pulled the pin on one grenade dropped it by a stack and ran out. He ran faster than he could process and tripped into a nearby trench. With the loudest, BANG!!!, the bunker exploded into a million pieces. Screams filled the air for a brief second and then the crashing down of the bunker took over. Bricks and cobble flew everywhere. Matt laid in the trench breathing heavily. He sat up and started crying. His hands were bloodied, his face and whole body were scratched and dirtied, heck he even had some shrapnel in his left leg. But Matt wasn't crying from pain. Not even sadness for the death he witnessed, or the lives he took for the Allied forces. He was crying because he was alive. He would be able to go home to his family, and friends. He would live to fight another day. And he was thankful for that. So many men had lost their lives this day but he kept his.