The First Man on the Beaches of Normandy
That must have been a complete chaos when US soldiers landed on the beach in Normandy. Since then, many movies have attempted to capture that exact moment, most notably Saving Private Ryan's startlingly violent and dramatic opening scene. Yet for each and every one of those men who persisted, being there in the flesh would have been extremely horrific.
One thing that most people probably don't consider all that much is how one man had to be the first in the midst of all that commotion. The first soldier to step foot on that shore had to be him. He went by the name Leonard Schroeder. Captain Schroeder was the first US soldier to step foot on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day in 1944.
As Schroeder led his group onto Utah Beach, he was wounded twice. He led his men many miles inland in spite of his wounds before collapsing from blood loss. Schroeder never intended to be the first person on the beach, and he didn't particularly enjoy the attention he eventually received for it. But, the truth is that he did have a later life to mention. He went home after surviving the war and lived to be 90 years old.
