The Americans at D-Day: The American Experience at the Normandy Invasion
About this audiobook
June 6, 1944, was a pivotal moment in the history of World War II. On that day the climactic and decisive phase of the war in Europe began. Those who survived the intense fighting on the Normandy beaches found their lives irreversibly changed. That day ushered in a great change for the United States as well, because on D-day America began its march to the forefront of the Western world.
By the end of the Battle of Normandy, almost one out of every two soldiers involved was an American, and without American weapons, supplies, and leadership, the outcome of the invasion and ensuing battle could have been very different.
In the first of two volumes on the American contribution to the Allied victory at Normandy, John C. McManus examines, with great intensity and thoroughness, the American experience in the weeks leading up to D-day and on the great day itself. From the buildup in England to the night drops of airborne forces behind German lines and the landings on the beaches at dawn, from the famed figures of Eisenhower, Bradley, and “Lighting Joe” Collins to the courageous, but little-known privates who fought so bravely and under terrifying conditions, this is the story of the American experience at D-day. What were the battles really like for the Americans at Utah and Omaha? What drove them to fight despite all adversity? How and why did they triumph? Thanks to extensive archival research, and the use of hundreds of firsthand accounts, McManus answers these questions and many more.
Impressively researched, engrossing, lightning quick, and filled with human sorrow and elation, The Americans at D-Day honors those Americans who lost their lives on D-day, as well as those who were fortunate enough to survive.
About the author
John C. McManus is an award-winning professor, author, and military historian. He is one of America’s leading experts on the history of modern American soldiers in combat and he has written numerous well received books on the subject. He is a full professor of US military history at Missouri University of Science and Technology and he frequently serves an expert for documentaries. A veteran of many battlefield tours, he has traveled thousands of miles to give lectures on military history and research the realities of combat for American soldiers.
Joe Barrett began his acting career at the age of five in the basement of his family's home in upstate New York. He has gone on to play many stage roles, both on and off-Broadway, and in regional theaters from Los Angeles, Houston, and St. Louis to Washington DC, San Francisco, and Portland, Maine. He has appeared in films and television, both prime time and late night, and in hundreds of television and radio commercials. Joe has narrated over two hundred audiobooks. He has been an Audie Award finalist eight times, and his narration of Gun Church by Reed Farrel Coleman won the 2013 Audie Award for Original Work. AudioFile magazine has granted Joe fourteen Earphones Awards, including for James Salter's All That Is and Donald Katz's Home Fires. Regarding Joe's narration of John Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany, AudioFile said, "This moving book comes across like a concerto... with a soloist-Owen's voice-rising from the background of an orchestral narration." Joe is married to actor Andrea Wright, and together they have four very grown children.
