‘We had it rough’: Rowan County native, Army veteran looks back on D-Day invasion
Jim Deal is 101 years old now, and was part of a tank battalion during the Normandy invasion.
ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. (QC Life) - Jim Deal grew up in Rowan County in the 1920s and 30s, and just a few days after the D-Day invasion, he was standing on the beach in Normandy.
Now 101 years old, he is looking back on his experience.
Deal was drafted into the U.S. Army when he was 18, and trained as part of a tank battalion for a year at Fort Lewis in Washington state.
“On D-Day morning, we stood outside our barracks,” he said. “[We] watched our B-17 planes. There were so many...almost blackened the sky. Now, they were loaded with bombs. We could almost see them turn them loose over there. And we prayed they’d have that place tore all to pieces before we got there, but that didn’t turn out.”
Six days into the invasion, Deal’s group drove its tanks onto the beaches and into the countryside, but it was not easy.
“We found out later that they had some of their best men waiting on us….and we had it rough,” he said. “We began to wonder from that if we were ever going to get back home again.”
Many did not make it home, but he and his soldiers kept pushing through cold, sleepless nights and sickness.
Deal himself ran a fever and after stepping on a trip wire, had a piece of shrapnel go through his leg.
After the injury, he made a full recovery, got married and has enjoyed a full life. In 2019 he returned to Normandy on the 75th anniversary of D-Day. He saw the cemeteries where the bodies of those who lost their lives were laid to rest. He walked the beaches that were full of the sights and sounds of war the last time he was there.
“It felt so good to stand there,” he said of the trip back to Normandy. “I was there with a prisoner of war, that we had got together and became good buddies…and me and him walked down to the beach.”
As the 80th anniversary approaches, Deal said he never could have imagined the life he would lead or the honors and accolades that so many have given him and other soldiers for their sacrifices.
“Time is passing so fast to me...I thought after I got home, well, I got forever to live,” he said with a crack of humor.
His story, and that of so many others, is a true example of service and sacrifice.
For those who did not make it back home, we salute and honor you.
Related: Charlotte-area communities holding Memorial Day ceremonies to honor, remember the fallen
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