RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia War Memorial in Richmond is a beautiful and solemn place because the silence speaks for itself. But hidden deep within this new milestone, there are voices that are adding new chapters to a defining moment in World War II.
As curators and archivists prepared the D-Day Plus 80 exhibition, the team made a discovery locked away for a quarter of a century.
“Hardly anyone has heard these stories,” said Virginia War Memorial Executive Director Clay Mountcastle. “This is the real story to tell you what it was like and what they experienced.”
Mountcastle said interviews with 43 veterans of the Normandy invasion are now being reproduced for the first time.
“It’s incredibly fascinating to hear what they went through,” Mountcastle said. “So it was amazing for us. It was at that moment that we realized, ‘Oh my God. Look what we have. We have to share this with everyone.’”
The recordings include US Army nurse 1st Lieutenant Ruth Puryear.
“Then the commanding officer came in with a radio. We listen to Eisenhower’s speech to the troops. The invasion of France had begun,” said the Richmond newspaper.
U.S. Navy Sailor StM1c Jerry Gaiter of Richmond, who was serving on a destroyer off the coast of D-Day, provided another voice from the past.
“Finally, around noon, they called us to bomb and we went in and bombed the beach,” he said. “That first day was pretty tough.”
The raw conversations were recorded in the late 1990s and early 2000s as part of the Virginians at War series used in high schools across the Commonwealth.
PFC Arthur “Art” Schintzel with the 1st Williamsburg Infantry was wounded 11 times on D-Day.
“The ramps went down and the bullets came in,” Schintzel said. “It wasn’t long before he received a gunshot wound to the left forearm.”
“They were targeting your body and legs and everything so they could put you out of commission,” recalled Private Henry Myers of Halifax. “As the day went on, I fainted and lost so much blood.”
The unedited portions of the interviews were in storage waiting to be found. Hours of stories from soldiers, sailors, nurses, pilots and paratroopers detailing June 6, 1944 and the battles that followed have been digitized.
“That’s when I saw what the massacre on the beach looked like. The landing craft. Two tanks on fire. Bodies bathing in the waves,” Roanoke Sergeant Bob Slaughter said in a recording.
First Lieutenant Evelyn Kowalchuck recalled sleeping in a trench on Omaha Beach. The US Army nurse was left haunted by what she witnessed as she tried to save lives.
“Sometimes we had what we called sucking wounds. Chest wounds. Or head injury. When we came home to spend the night in England, very little was said,” Kowalchuck said. “We just lay there and cried. Something most of us did.”
It is estimated that only 5% of the Memorial D-Day interviews were viewed.
Glider pilot Guy DeGenaro, from Richmond, survived by carrying infantry into the heart of German-held territory. Fellow pilots were not so lucky.
“For about a minute you don’t know if you’re going to be alive or dead,” Degenaro said. “That was something that stayed with me for the rest of my life.”
Memorial archivist Sylvia Marshall called these rare audio and video recordings a treasure.
“The fact that oral histories are rarely linear allows you to get a more personal perspective on that day,” Marshall said. “And they were really able to talk about their experiences and this powerful moment in history.”
T/Sgt. Raymond Mays remembers losing a good friend in the hedges.
“Bless his heart. A week or ten days later she lost her life,” the Richmond man said. “That was the end of our friendship at that time. He was a great man. A great man.”
Director of Exhibitions and Collections Jesse Smith said preserving the stories was the priority.
“Some of these interviews provide stories like no other,” Smith said. “When we converted them to digital, some of them were choppy. They would jump. Then you could tell that the tape was starting to break.”
If the recordings had been damaged beyond repair, these stories could not be retold.
“Unfortunately, when our veterans pass away, they take their stories with them,” Smith said.
“Sadly, none of these veterans are still with us today,” Mountcastle added. “That underscores how important it is to capture those stories when possible.”
By safeguarding and sharing these memories, the legacy of these eyewitnesses lives on.
“What a sight. Everyone is shooting around you. Shells are falling around you. Other small ships exploded,” said U.S. Navy Seaman Gerald Thomson of Staunton.
“This is invaluable to understanding our history. Not only as Virginians but as Americans. When you hear someone tell their story it’s like they’re still with us,” Mountcastle said. “There is no substitute.”
They are new voices from Normandy and stories from D-Day that resonate across the decades.
The “D+80” exhibit is open to the public at the Virginia War Memorial. Admission is free.
Watch Greg McQuade’s stories on KeynoteUSA 6 and WTVR.com. If you know someone Greg should profile, email him at greg.mcquade@wtvr.com.
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