The Geneva Convention is a failure. Many of the Aidmen wounded were shot intentionally. The white brassard draws fire. The Craft bringing in the Collecting Company all members of which were wearing brassards received more direct enemy fire than any other craft. Since, the landing on the beach several Aidmen have been wounded by sniper fire. The Geneva Convention Brassard makes the Company Aidman’s job the most hazardous in the Army. 1
Major Charles E. Tegtmeyer
16th Infantry Regimental Surgeon
The Normandy invasion, most associated with the term “D-Day,” occurred on 6 June 1944. However, it was not the first amphibious assault spearheaded by the U.S. Army. Much hard-learned experience for the 1st Infantry Division was gained after landings in North Africa and Italy. This was the third time for the Big Red One and the medics of the 16th Infantry and 1st Medical Battalion.
Staff Sergeant Arnold (Ray) Lambert of Selma, Alabama assigned from the regimental medical detachment to the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment boarded his landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVP) “Higgins Boat” about 10-miles from Omaha Beach. If the tumultuous waves did not make his fellow soldiers sick, the vomit from those who had succumbed did. It was the first wave of the assault. His boat landed at 0630 and all around him boats were on fire receiving artillery and mortar rounds. When the men exited, the water was over their heads. Lambert embraced it as the only means of concealment and dove under water to avoid the withering machine gun and sniper fire. His survival meant going under water as far as he could. Mines and barbed wire greeted him on shore. The first to hit the beach, Lambert was wounded in the upper right elbow. Despite his wound, he struggled to determine whether his buddies were dead, wounded, or drowning and dragged them to shore. Men were on fire jumping from the Higgins Boats. Rocks exploded into deadly shards as mortars plummeted into the area. The wounded were wet, the sand was wet, all he could do was try to stop the bleeding with bandages and relieve their pain with morphine. Turning over each face-down patient was a gamble whether he was alive or already dead. He continued to pull wounded men onto the beach and found shelter to the left of his landing site in a pile of concrete on the beach. As the senior medic Lambert chose this rock pile as the de facto aid station for the 2nd Battalion even though the medical chests were missing. Wounded again, this time fragmentation shattered his left thigh. Weak from blood loss himself, he put a tourniquet on his thigh and gave himself morphine. Desperately fighting the rising tide, he continued to pull the wounded from the surf when a fast-approaching landing craft of the third assault wave struck him, knocking him into the water with his patient, crushing the fourth and fifth vertebrae of his lower back. Again, he pulled his wounded patient to the rock pile of concrete allowing for protection from the withering fire of the Germans on the high ground. After the fourth wave of incoming landing craft (approximately two-hours on the beach), Ray passed out and was evacuated to a landing craft returning to England. Of the 31 on the landing craft delivering Lambert to the French shore, only seven survived the day. On the return evacuation trip, a Navy doctor read his dog tag and announced, “We have another Lambert here.” Ray’s brother, Euel (Bill) Lambert, also in the 16th Infantry, was also wounded in Normandy and was evacuated to England on the same landing craft, in the same wheeled ambulance, to the same tent hospital, and same operating room together. When Ray woke up in the recovery ward, his brother was right beside him and asked, “What are you doing here? and “What’s Mother going to say about this?” 2
The fourth wave brought in the 16th Infantry Regimental Headquarters along with the medical section led by the regimental surgeon, Major Charles E. Tagtmeyer. His senior medic was Technician third grade (Staff Sergeant) Herbert Goldberg who served as the detachment first sergeant. Goldberg led the medics out of their landing craft, medium (LCM) into ice-cold and chest-deep water at approximately 0815. Struggling against the steel rails and barbed wire, the medics slowly made their way up to the shore. Tagtmeyer triaged patients as he progressed while Goldberg organized the lifesaving efforts, pulling the wounded from the surf and pushing the medics forward. All the way the cry of “Medic!” was heard screaming through the artillery, machine gun, and mine explosions. Sweeping all the beach designated Easy Red, First Sergeant Goldberg ordered his men to keep up through the withering fire and only stop to render aid. By this time medics from the entire regiment, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd battalions, were collectively pulling the wounded further inland to any semblance of protection. In addition to the normal types of wounds one would see from machinegun and shells, Tagtmeyer noted “a great percentage were dead from bullet wounds through the head.” The exhausted medics became separated as they treated the wounded and desperately tried to keep up the race to the exit out of the beach kill zone. After the exhausting trudge to the shale at the cliff’s edge of the gruesome journey, the medical detachment formed a hasty aid station a little over 20 yards west of the regimental headquarters dug into the steep embankment at approximately 1040. As the regimental headquarters consolidated, reports revealed the regiment was already attrited by about 30 percent. Because sending the wounded back to the beach for evacuation proved a deadly formula from artillery and mortars, the battalions were ordered to avoid beach evacuation and consolidate the wounded at the regimental aid station. The 3rd battalion was too far west, so only the casualties from the 1st and 2nd battalions came to the fortuitously stocked regimental aid station. By 1900 there were 80 wounded fighting for their lives dug into the cliff leading to Colleville-sur-Mer. By 2100 the walking wounded were able to proceed to the beach for evacuation on landing craft bringing in the 26th Infantry Regiment and 15 litter-patients were delivered to the Navy beach station. Movement stopped when German shelling returned. 3
Captain Emerald Ralston, the clearing company commander assigned in support of the 16th Infantry Regiment, and his 90 personnel of Company A, 1st Medical Battalion attempted to come ashore at 0830. Their landing craft, infantry-85 (LCI-85), turned back when the craft hit pilings too far from shore to disembark on Fox Green Beach. The boat received machine gun and artillery fire while stuck. The boat moved into another position about 100 yards to the right to land in another location. At the second attempt, the boat was on fire with a hole below the water level causing it to list to one side. Fire engulfed the vessel with the compacted front-facing soldiers killed and wounded as the landing ramp was shot away. Approximately 20 medics jumped and made it from one large target in the water to smaller targets on the beach as the boat received direct artillery strikes and the holds began to burn with intensity as men panicked onboard. As the fire spread, the remaining medics of Company A tended to the wounded before the ship even unloaded much of her living cargo. The company officers and men removed the wounded from the burning holds to the deck, administered plasma, and treated the bullet, fragmentary, and burned victims. One group of soldiers were able to load onto a LCM, but the medics stayed administering to the wounded. It was approximately 1030 when the skipper of LCI-85 turned back around to move the dead and wounded to the USS Chase. By 1100 the same handful of medics able to assuage the wounded were the same men desperately unloading the wounded to the USS Chase as LCI-85 sank. Captain Ralston rallied the surviving medics to serve the better good having left the wounded in the hands of medical personnel on the Chase and loaded onto another LCM. Even though burned himself, Ralston accompanied his men ashore to attempt a third assault at 1500 facing devastating heavy artillery fire immediately upon landing, this time on Easy Red Beach. Those who survived fought the rising tide pulling wounded from the surf all while being hit with machine gun and sniper fire. From the 90 men who began the assault, Captain Ralston organized his remaining medics to function as a collecting station. Reporting to Major Tegtmeyer’s regimental aid station at 2230, Ralston led the remaining twelve survivors to serve as litter bearers who were immediately dispatched to the battalion aid stations.
The 1st, 2nd, 3rd Battalions and Special Units of the 16th Infantry Regiment landed in Normandy with 3,660 assigned personnel. The regiment suffered 971 killed, missing, and wounded in action on 6 June 1944. The overall loss was 27 percent of its assigned strength in just one day of fighting. A portion of the Medical Detachment, 16th Infantry’s Meritorious Service Unit Plaque (later designated Meritorious Unit Commendation) depicting that harrowing day of 6 June 1944 relays,
[T]he Medical Detachment, 16th Infantry, was constantly called upon to perform the most arduous duties, under the most dangerous and difficult battle conditions, and, in all cases, not only performed that which had been requested, but surpassed all expectations in the amount and quality of work performed. The men of this unit came ashore without weapons, but carrying enough supplies on their backs to keep the Aid Stations in operation for a period of ten days. Despite the intensity of the enemy fire on the beach, these men struggled through the mined water and brought valuable supplies onto shore. Coming in with the initial assault troops, the first section of the detachment established their first aid station on the beach within thirty minutes after “H” hour. Within 90 minutes after the initial assault, four aid stations had been put into operation and the entire detachment was functioning on the beach of Normandy, France. These four aid stations represented the only medical installations in this area for a period of twenty-four hours. The men of the detachment operated without any collecting or clearing units, handling all the tasks by themselves. In the period following the invasion, when the troops moved inland, the full importance of the medical supplies brought ashore by these men became apparent. For an extended length of time, these and captured enemy supplies were all that was available for treating the many wounded. The unit likewise lacked ambulances during the early stages of the invasion, necessitating the hauling of wounded men by litter bearer parties for longs distances through terrain that was under sniper and shell fire. 6
For their heroism and actions on this day Staff Sergeant Arnold (Ray) Lambert, 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry was awarded the Bronze Star medal. The rock of concrete where Lambert established his hasty battalion aid station was recognized with a plaque commemorating that event by the village of Colleville-sur-Mer on 13 October 2018. Major Charles E. Tagtmeyer, Medical Detachment, 16th Infantry was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Staff Sergeant Herbert Goldberg, Medical Detachment, 16th Infantry was awarded the Silver Star medal and given a battlefield commission to Second Lieutenant in the Medical Administrative Corps. Captain Emerald Ralston, Company A, 1st Medical Battalion was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
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The author wishes to express his sincere gratitude for the assistance and hospitality of Andrew Woods of the Colonel Robert R. McCormick Research Center, First Division Museum at Cantigny Park and Jessica Waszak of the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park.
-- Scott C. Woodard, historian, U.S. Army Medical Department Center of History and Heritage
Footnotes:
1 Goldberg, Herbert. “History, Medical Detachment, 16th Infantry, 1st U.S. Infantry Division, United States Army, November 1940 to May 1945,” 301-INF (16)6.0.1: History – Medical Det, Nov 1940 – May 1945, Collection: Historical Records of the First Infantry Division and its Organic Elements, WWII, Robert R. McCormick Research Center Digital Archives, First Infantry Division Museum at Cantigny (hereafter RRMRC).
2 Arnold (Ray) Lambert Oral History Interview with Andrew Woods, August 1, 2013, RRMRC; 301-INF (16) – 1.13: General Orders, 1940 – 1948, GO No. 13, HQ 16th Inf, 8 August 1944, awards the combat Infantryman’s badge to First Sergeant Euel W. Lambert, 7006980, Company “G” 16th Infantry, but 301-INF (16)6.0.1: History – Medical Det, Nov 1940 – May 1945 lists Euel W. Lambert as a medic in the 16th Infantry Medical Detachment [Ray’s awards are listed in the 16th Infantry Medical Detachment History, but excludes the silver star posted in GO No. 32, HQ 1st U.S. Inf Div, 25 July 1943.] The oral history clarifies Bill’s position. Bill Lambert had originally been a medic in the 3rd Battalion, 16th Infantry and became the First Sergeant for Company G before the invasion.
3 Tegtmeyer, Charles E. A Doctor’s War: The Memoir of Charles E. Tegtmeyer, Combat Surgeon in the 1st Infantry Division, 1940-1945, First Division Museum at Cantigny Park, Wheaton, IL, 2015, pp 246-260. Technician third grade (T/3) was adopted by the Army in 1942 to annotate enlisted soldiers with special skills but were not trained to serve as unit leaders. At that time, they were considered noncommissioned officers and were addressed as staff sergeant - Hogan, David W. The Story of the Noncommissioned Officer Corps: The Backbone of the Army, Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, DC, 2007, pp 295-296; Goldberg, Herbert. “History, Medical Detachment, 16th Infantry, 1st U.S. Infantry Division, United States Army, November 1940 to May 1945,” 301-INF (16)6.0.1: History – Medical Det, Nov 1940 – May 1945, Collection: Historical Records of the First Infantry Division and its Organic Elements, WWII, RRMRC. Major Tagtmeyer also contributed to a report to the 16th Infantry commander entitled “Activities of Med. Det. 16th Inf. D.-Day.” It is in the above research collection but is a copy from the original in the National Archives and Records Administration.
4 Lundgren, Kent T. “A report of the Initial Landing of U.S.C.G LCI 85 with 90 members of the First Medical Battalion, Company A, 6 June 1944,” 301-INF (16)6.0.1: History – Medical Det, Nov 1940 – May 1945, Collection: Historical Records of the First Infantry Division and its Organic Elements, WWII, RRMRC. Lieutenant Lundgren also wrote an additional report that provides slightly more detail. Lundgren reports the final landing as “three O’clock” in one report and “5 P.M.” in another. Major Tagtmeyer also contributed to a report to the 16th Infantry commander entitled “Activities of Med. Det. 16th Inf. D.-Day” Both reports are in the above research collection but are copies from the originals in the National Archives and Records Administration.
5 National Archives (College Park, Maryland), RG 407, 301-INF (16)-0.3, Box 5909, Report of Operations file; Goldberg, Herbert. “History, Medical Detachment, 16th Infantry, 1st U.S. Infantry Division, United States Army, November 1940 to May 1945,” 301-INF (16)6.0.1: History – Medical Det, Nov 1940 – May 1945, Collection: Historical Records of the First Infantry Division and its Organic Elements, WWII, RRMRC.
6 Goldberg, Herbert. “History, Medical Detachment, 16th Infantry, 1st U.S. Infantry Division, United States Army, November 1940 to May 1945,” 301-INF (16)6.0.1: History – Medical Det, Nov 1940 – May 1945, Collection: Historical Records of the First Infantry Division and its Organic Elements, WWII, RRMRC.
7 Goldberg, Herbert. “History, Medical Detachment, 16th Infantry, 1st U.S. Infantry Division, United States Army, November 1940 to May 1945,” 301-INF (16)6.0.1: History – Medical Det, Nov 1940 – May 1945, Collection: Historical Records of the First Infantry Division and its Organic Elements, WWII, RRMRC.
8 Bridgehead Sentinel Spring 2018, p 10, Collection: The Bridgehead Sentinel, RRMRC.
9 Goldberg, Herbert. “History, Medical Detachment, 16th Infantry, 1st U.S. Infantry Division, United States Army, November 1940 to May 1945,” 301-INF (16)6.0.1: History – Medical Det, Nov 1940 – May 1945, Collection: Historical Records of the First Infantry Division and its Organic Elements, WWII, RRMRC.
10 Goldberg, Herbert. “History, Medical Detachment, 16th Infantry, 1st U.S. Infantry Division, United States Army, November 1940 to May 1945,” 301-INF (16)6.0.1: History – Medical Det, Nov 1940 – May 1945, Collection: Historical Records of the First Infantry Division and its Organic Elements, WWII, RRMRC; Tegtmeyer, Charles E. A Doctor’s War: The Memoir of Charles E. Tegtmeyer, Combat Surgeon in the 1st Infantry Division, 1940-1945, First Division Museum at Cantigny Park, Wheaton, IL, 2015, pp 290-291. Medical Administrative Corps officers promoted from noncommissioned officers began to fill the desperate shortages of physicians at aid stations relieving the Medical Corps officers the burden of administrative and logistics matters - Ginn, Richard V.N. The History of the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, Office of the Surgeon General and Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C., 1997, 121-122, 141-142.
11 Ralston File, GO No. 42, HQ 1st Inf Div, 6 August 1944, RRMRC.
