- Magazine
- From the Editor
Why it’s important to hear stories from WWII’s last living survivors
To mark the 75th anniversary of the war’s end, people who lived through it—a dwindling population—recount their experiences and memories.
As a journalist for 40 years, I have had the unfortunate duty from time to time to own up to a mistake I made and to write a correction about a fact I got wrong—a wrong date, a misspelled name, a number not quite right. All of these errors made me feel bad; this one has saddened me as well.
As our June issue went to print, we learned that after all those years of keeping his memories at bay, my father-in-law, Robert C. Etnire, apparently remembered the timing of his arrival on Omaha Beach incorrectly. On D-Day, his unit, the 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized), was among many in the English Channel, enduring heavy bombardment while waiting to be ordered ashore. But Bob's boat did not actually reach Omaha Beach until June 8, two days after D-Day began. According to a history of the 102nd Cavalry, written by Maj. David M. Russen, “The route to the beach was strewn with still burning ships that had run upon sunken concrete pilings or mines… The beach proper was littered with demolished vehicles and American and German soldiers unrecognizably intermingled in death.” It must have been a searing experience; it is no wonder he never spoke of it until he was 85 years old.
My father-in-law told me he had been there, and indeed he was. But I got the date wrong, and it is our policy, and my determination, to always be transparent with our readers. To that end, we are putting this correction on top of my original letter to you, so you can see for yourself the difference. I apologize for this error.
As our June issue went to print, we learned that after all those years of keeping his memories at bay, my father-in-law, Robert C. Etnire, apparently remembered the timing of his arrival on Omaha Beach incorrectly. On D-Day, his unit, the 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized), was among many in the English Channel, enduring heavy bombardment while waiting to be ordered ashore. But Bob's boat did not actually reach Omaha Beach until June 8, two days after D-Day began. According to a history of the 102nd Cavalry, written by Maj. David M. Russen, “The route to the beach was strewn with still burning ships that had run upon sunken concrete pilings or mines… The beach proper was littered with demolished vehicles and American and German soldiers unrecognizably intermingled in death.” It must have been a searing experience; it is no wonder he never spoke of it until he was 85 years old.
My father-in-law told me he had been there, and indeed he was. But I got the date wrong, and it is our policy, and my determination, to always be transparent with our readers. To that end, we are putting this correction on top of my original letter to you, so you can see for yourself the difference. I apologize for this error.
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