In response to the late S. L. A. Marshall’s charge that few World War II infantrymen fired their weapons, I can only answer for my regiment, the 12th Infantry, 4th Division. In the five-and-a-half days that I lasted in the invasion of Normandy, I was with a front-line battalion around thirteen hours a day. And for our regiment his charge is spurious.

In 1960 I wrote this about the D-day battle against German infantry: “Our infantry, kneeling behind hedgerows, firing their weapons to help incoming gliders, looked like Americans at Lexington and Concord.” Soldiers in Normandy responded perfectly because of their training and patriotism.