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

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

General Patton taking a whizzzzz

General Patton

  This is a picture of General Patton, a real genuine son-of-a-*****, and damn proud of it.

  I never got to meet the General and I hated that. Other soldiers told me he’d stand directly in front of you…staring straight into your eyes. You being a lowly private or sergeant or whatever and him being a Lieutenant General, (3 stars).

  No two ways about it, this was a ‘tough’ man. He took no crap from anyone, which is why we all liked and admired him. And, you damn well better be tough or act like your tough in front of him. If you didn’t look him in the eye, he would say something, or grab on your uniform or just do something to make you look at him. He wanted your eye contact…he wanted you to know this was man to man.  That’s what other soldiers told me, it would’ve been great if I’d met him. He was the best soldier of them all.

  This picture is him taking a leak in the Rhine River in Germany. One of my buddies got a copy of this picture when they put it out for publicity. I wish I could have put it in my book…but General Patton and I never crossed paths. I hated that.

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

P.S. Garry, my biographer, says the print book will be out before the end of December, on Amazon. Look for it. You might like it.

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