In this transcribed excerpt from his interview with The Pilot, Carwood Lipton describes some of his D-Day experiences in his own words.

Late on the afternoon of June 5, 1944, we got all our equipment together, and we were taken out to the C-47s.

Each man carried about 80 pounds or more of equipment, and the Army had given us leg packs which the British had developed. It was like a duffel bag which you fastened on your right leg. It had a release mechanism which you pulled, and the pack would swing below you when your chute opened. This would give you 20 feet of warning before you hit the ground.

I was jumpmaster on my plane, so I leaned out the door into the slipstream as we flew across the English Channel. I could see thousands of ships in the channel in the moonlight. I understood then how big the D-day operation was. It was a sight I’ll never forget, all those ships in the moonlight.

When we reached the Normandy coast, we hit cloud cover and lots of anti-aircraft fire. The C-47s took evasive action to confuse the German anti-aircraft, so everything became completely confused.

We hooked up and checked our equipment, and I was standing in the door watching anti-aircraft fire coming up. The green light came on, and I yelled, “Go!”

I think we jumped from about 500 feet, which meant we’d be in the air about 30 seconds before we hit the ground. When my chute opened, the rope on the leg pack broke and I lost the pack which contained my Tommy gun, a couple of land mines, ammunition, food, spare clothing — all of it lost before I hit the ground.

Gunfire Everywhere

I saw that we were coming down in a town, and machine gun fire was coming up at us. I landed hard in a walled-in area behind the city hall. I had two hand grenades, a trench knife and no other weapons. There was a stone wall that came around the house, and I pulled myself up and looked out. There was a fire down the street, and it gave enough light so I could see the street was clear.

I knew which way to go to get out of the town, so I worked my way along the wall. I saw a post on the outskirts of town, but it was very dark and I had to read the sign letter by letter before I realized I was in Ste. Mere-Eglise.

Planes were going over in all directions, machine gun fire and anti-aircraft fire were going up all around me. I realized I had to find a weapon and join up with other paratroopers to get some strength together. I saw some of our guys coming down, and I ran under them. I started talking to them so they’d know who I was and not mistake me for a German.

They turned out to be from the 82nd Division. We joined up, and we went back to the road. I heard a “click-clack” signal from a cricket, and I answered with a “click-clack, click-clack.” It was Dick Winters, a lieutenant in my company. He was the first E Company man I’d seen.

Our mission was to go to Ste. Marie-du-Mont, clear the Germans out of that area, destroy their equipment and clear Causeway 2, which came up from Utah Beach where the 4th Division was to come ashore.

On the way we’d picked up several E Company men who’d jumped from other planes. Our division was scattered all over the place, and there was no organization except for what you put together yourself, which, oddly enough, worked against the Germans. They could not figure out where our strength was. This demoralized them.

Moving along the road, we gathered 13 of us. With our group we had two light machine guns and a 60 mm mortar. I’d picked up a carbine from an American body.

We came upon ammunition wagons with Germans on them. We killed some of the Germans, and we captured four. Then a German machine gun opened on us, and the four German prisoners jumped us. Sgt. Guarnere shot all four of them with his pistol.

Eventually, we joined up with about 75 men, all of us moving toward Ste. Marie-du-Mont. When we reached Le Grand-Chemin, we could hear German artillery — 105s — firing on Utah Beach. The battalion commander ordered E Company to knock out those guns. At that time E Company consisted of only 13 men. The Germans had about 60 men operating and defending the guns. They were from the German 6th Paratroop Regiment.

Climbed a Tree

Winters was in command. He was the best combat commander there was. He sized up the situation, worked out a plan, and made sure each of us understood his part.

The German guns were dug in and camouflaged along a hedgerow. They’d established a regular defensive position with trenches and foxholes, and the guns were continuing to fire on Utah Beach.

Winters told Lt. Compton and Sgt. Guarnere to go around to the left of the Germans and put fire into their positions. I was told to go to right and put fire into the positions on the other side. We set up the two machine guns and put covering fire along the hedgerow where we knew the German position was. The rest of the men went with Winters up the middle.

I worked my way out along a tree line, but I couldn’t to see the German positions. I could hear the fire building from Winter’s group. I could hear the German fire being returned. So I climbed into a tree, and it was amazing. I was almost in the rear of the German position. I could see them in their foxholes and some of them out in the open, some of them kneeling, some of them prone.

I had this carbine which I’d never fired before, so I didn’t know how accurate the sights were. There was a German about 75 yards from me. I fired at him, and he just dropped his head down. I thought, I’ve missed him, and he’s looking to see where the fire was coming from. I aimed right under his head where there was some loose dirt — he’d just started to dig in — and squeezed off another round and dirt flew up, so I knew my first shot had hit him. I fired as fast as I could change my position in the tree which had a lot of little branches but no real cover. I put as much fire into the German position as I could.

About that time, on the far flank, I saw Compton and Guarnere throwing grenades. They took the first 105. We did the same thing, gun by gun, until we knocked them all out.