Bloody Omaha: My Remembrances of That Day (Paperback, Fall - 2010) by James Robert Copeland, S/SGT., 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion
I remember receiving sniper fire from above in a similar scene as pictured here -- none of us thought we'd make it. I did make it and here is my story.
It begins from my childhood in West Virginia, where my family and my family's family, worked in the coal mines.
When war broke out (Pearl Harbor), I enlisted in the Army and became Army Ranger -- fighting that fateful day, on the bloodiest beach, June 6th, 1944.


As a home health aid my wife Linda discovered James Robert Copeland. Linda and I were surprised with his energy, his vitality and his story. It didn't take much conversation to convince him of the importance of recording his story for posterity. We had several interviews over the past year and each time JR (as Ranger Copeland likes to be called), reminded me he felt his time was running out. He wanted me to hurry in my writing so he could see the finished book.
JR Copeland will be 89 years old this year. There has never been a time when I didn't find him cordial, informative and quite lucid in his conversation. Hopefully JR will see his story published -- this man is a magnanimous individual, besides being a war hero. I hope my writing does justice to his great story.
--garry m graves, biographer

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Ben Affleck…who’s he?

JRhead

…here’s a picture of me taken in 1942, at the age of 20 years old. I was home on leave from the Army.

My biographer, Garry M. Graves, says I look somewhat like the movie star, Ben Affleck, whoever he is. Can’t imagine someone else looking like me or me them. I’ll admit it…my six foot two frame was like a piece of steel. The work of carrying huge pieces of ice to deliver to my customers in West Virginia, the many coal mining jobs I had, combined with the rigorous training the Army put me through…made me pretty damn tough. At least I thought so.

Didn’t do sports much but liked baseball. My older brother Edjar was a real good ball player and played on several company coal mine teams. They all wanted to have him work for them and play on their baseball team. When home on leave, he told me that I’d filled out well and looked like I could take care of myself. Little did he know that all I did in Army training was drink and fist fight. No two ways about it, the rough stuff seemed to fit me well. Maybe it helped me survive that day on Omaha Beach…what most people call Bloody Omaha.

Here’s a picture also taken in 1942, with me leaning up against a jeep.JRArmyPic1942 Don’t remember when exactly this was taken or where I was at.

When becoming a Ranger the picture taking stopped. We were kind’a a secretive group and didn’t want anyone knowing who we were or what we were doing. We had a mission you could say. It was nice being around plenty of other tough guys. We fought like cats and dogs.

Respectfully, James Robert Copeland, S/Sgt., 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion, WWII, (survivor).

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)