By June 1, 1944, his unit had been issued ammunition and taken to the airport. They still had no idea what their destination was. On June 5, they were briefed on this mission and told it was Normandy, France. The invasion of mainland Europe was on.
Seventeen paratroopers were aboard his C-47 aircraft.
It took about 120 of these military transports to move his regiment over the English Channel and onto a jump over French soil.
"You could hear the bullets hitting the old metal plane we was in," Merritt said.
As the No. 2 man to jump, Merritt figured to follow the hedgerow toward where he had seen the plane crash. Not knowing where the rest of his regiment were, he used a metal cricket the Army had issued him and snapped twice.
If he heard a single "click" back, that meant the unknown person he encountered was a "friendly." Yet, he didn't hear that click.
He was mighty glad to hear someone say in a low voice, "I am an American chaplain."
--GreGen
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