Thanks, Dad
Well Google is Google. But it is June 6, so my Dad would have probably smiled wryly at the importance of a drive in versus D-Day. He would have made a comment of remembering the one that was more fun and no war stories would follow. He kept his medals in a shoe box under his bed. So for him and the men like him...
The citation below is for his actions the 7th, not the 6th when he landed at Omaha Beach. I have his invasion maps markets "Top Secret Bigot." He was also awarded a silver star and two bronze stars with V's along with 2 purple hearts during WWII. He was an NCO who received a battlefield commission. He and my mother are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
First Lieutenant John Synowsky, 18th Infantry United States Army. For extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy on June 7, 1944, in France. When his platoon was leading in the battalion in the attack and reached a bridge on which an enemy machine gun was firing, First Lieutenant Synowsky, knowing that the machine gun would hold up the entire battalion, gallantly left his platoon and assaulted the machine gun. Creeping and crawling through fire so heavy that his men were unable to give him covering fire, he reached a point less than 10 yards from the enemy then quickly rose up and threw a hand grenade accurately into the emplacement destroying the machine gun. Snipers fired at him but, quickly locating the positions where the snipers were located, he returned their fire, killing them or causing them to flee. As a result of his courage and skillful actions, the battalion immediately resumed its attack, and because he alone exposed himself to the existing danger, not a man in his assault platoon was harmed. First Lieutenant Synowsky's extraordinary heroism and outstanding achievement infused in his men a spirit of the highest of military tradition.
He was quite a guy. Not just brave, but an inspirational father, inventive and an excellent home chef (not great at clean up but creative and smart).
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