Omaha Beach and Beyond: The Long March of Sergeant Bob Slaughter - Rilegato

Slaughter vividly conveys the reality of combat during World War II in his book with sweeping passages that literally place his reader on the battelfield beside him. --Motoring & Leisure

Sgt slaughter was one of the first people to land in france on D-Day and for that he deserves our undyaing respect. The book chronicles his experiences through training, to the fatefull massacre on Omaha Beach, throguh wounds and extensive combat. Sgt Slaughter then campaigned for a proper memorial in France --Birmingham Mail

Sixteen-year-old John Slaughter joined the 116th Infantry Regiment to escape the Great Depression. A few months later, he was engaged in the serious business of preparing for a conventional, high-intensity world war. Omaha Beach and Beyond is a record of his experiences. Slaughter advanced from private to staff sergeant squad leader; his Army service ended when he was only 20 years old but by then, he had done it all. He was also one of the first Army Rangers in World War II, experienced the war up front, lived in the dirt, squalor, weather, and spent days on the line, in a time when there was no forward support base for him to return to. The stress was phenomenal and some of his friends succumbed to what we now call post traumatic stress syndrome. Slaughter became involved in veterans affairs after the war and was the driving force behind locating and building the World War II D-Day monument in Bedford, Virginia. The location was not arbitrary the 116th Infantry Regiment suffered horrendous losses on D-Day, landing in one of the most heavily defended sections of Normandy. Soldiers were recruited to National Guard units from locales around their armories. The unfortunate by-product of this system was a very high number of casualties in the towns from which the units were drawn. Bedford, Virginia, had the highest per capita loss of any town in the United States for D-Day. Nineteen sons of this town died on the French shores. Slaughter was one of three D-Day veterans to escort the president and other officials during the 1994 50th anniversary commemoration along Omaha Beach, where his regiment suffered and distinguished itself. It was fitting that Slaughter was selected to lead the 2004 60th Anniversary march of the 29th 'Blue and Gray' Infantry Division in France. Many of the 2,000 casualties suffered by the 29th and 1st Infantry Divisions on Omaha Beach never came home and now lie in the beautiful cemeteries in France. John Slaughter s book reminds us of the sacrifice his friends and comrades made --Military Review

John Robert Slaughter enlisted in the Virginia National Guard well before Pearl Harbor in early 1941 at the age of sixteen. A veteran jopurnalist, he retired from the Roanoke Times in 1987. Active in veteran affairs for many years, Slaughter then began to work for the creation of a memorial to commemorate the sacrifice of the American soldiers at Normandy. On June 6, 2001, the National D-Day Memorial was dedicated. Bob Slaughter lives in Roanoke, Virginia.John Robert Slaughter enlisted in the Virginia National Guard well before Pearl Harbor in early 1941 at the age of sixteen. Just twenty at the end of the war, in 1947 he married and settled in Roanoke, Virginia. Upon his retirement from the Roanoke Times in 1987, Slaughter, who had become active in veterans affairs over the years, started to work on the creation of a memorial to commemorate the sacrifice of the American soldiers at Normandy. On June 6, 2001, the National D-Day Memorial was dedicated. Bob Slaughter lives in Roanoke, Virginia.Alex Kershaw is author of the widely acclaimed World War II histories The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice, The Longest Winter: The Battle of the Bulge and the Epic Story of World War II's Most Decorated Platoon, and The Few: the American "Knights of the Air" Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain. He lives in Bennington, Vermont.