02/16/2018

World War II veteran shares memories of D-Day invasion

Editor's Note: Morley Piper, the retired executive director of the New England Newspaper Association and a 2018 ONMA convention speaker, now admits to fabricating his participation in D-Day landing. For more information see this article.

Photo: Morley Piper

By Lauren Fisher, Ohio University

Morley Piper waited 50 years to talk about what he saw on the beaches of Normandy.

He kept quiet about the time he carried a radio man, who had been struck by German bullets, onto the sand. He didn’t talk about the time one of the medics who came to the man’s assistance stepped on an active mine.

Years later, Piper, the retired director of the New England Newspaper Association, opened up about his World War II experiences to the attendees of OMNA’s 2018 convention.

“I think now, as World War II vets are dwindling, you’ll find veterans more willing than ever to talk about their experiences.” Piper said. “I know a lot of you have ties to World War II. It’s not easy, to tell you the truth, to go over events from so long ago, especially when the events are tragedies.”

Recalling a recent visit to France, Piper said it was “surreal” to be back on the beaches where he stood as a 19 year-old on a grey, chilly morning in 1944.

Piper was “fresh from the states” when he first joined the 29th infantry division, just a few months before the D-Day invasion.

“I was what they call a 90-day wonder.” Piper said. “I like to say it was an age of innocence … we were ordinary young men. We lived ordinary lives before the war.”

He remembers struggling down the high rope ladders into Higgins boats and travelling for miles across the English Channel through high winds and rough seas.

The assault began at 6:30 a.m., and Piper watched as the first regiment was “decimated” by German fire.

“We could see immediately we were in trouble.” Piper said.

Despite being weighed down by heavy equipment and showered with gunfire, Piper was among those who persevered, escaping enemy fire and making his way to a nearby beach town.

Nearly 4,900 Allied soldiers are estimated to have died on D-Day. Piper said the soldiers eventually became hardened to the casualties of combat.

“And though it was unfortunate, we became ever more accustomed to seeing soldiers killed and wounded,” Piper said. “It is safe to say it became commonplace.”

Years later, Piper returned to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, a cemetery for American soldiers overlooking Omaha Beach, where all graves face westward.

“It is a place that speaks to you -- a beautiful place, at once saddening and liberating.” Piper said.

After delivering ONMA’s breakfast address, Piper was presented with a special resolution issued by Gov. John Kasich and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, as well as a reproduction of the front page of the Akron Beacon Journal from D-Day.

“Those days will live with me forever. They have shaped my life,” Piper said. “My contribution through those years was pretty small … but I was honored to serve with those brave soldiers.”