Hansen: The terror came in waves — thousands have D-Day tales, including a cook from Iowa

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/hansen-the-terror-came-in-waves-thousands-have-d-day/article_666e27bf-18b4-57e7-ad80-30bb5fff98ba.html



MATT MILLER
Kenneth Potter, then a young Army sergeant, was in the landing on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. Dropped off in far deeper water than planned, he plunged into a terrifying ordeal. “I didn’t want to get off that boat. I didn’t want to get in that water. The only reason I did it is that there was nothing else I could do.”


POSTED: FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 2014 1:00 AM
By Matthew Hansen / World-Herald staff writer

In the final moments before he splashed into the cold water, Kenneth Potter looked up and watched the Americans ahead of him hopping out of boats and wading, defenseless, right toward Hitler’s army.

The sight terrified him, but it wasn’t what scared him the most.

He could already hear the gunshots, the explosions, the screams shattering the dawn of June 6, 1944.

He had never heard those sounds before — had never seen a second of combat until now — but that wasn’t what scared him the most, either.

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