From the June 6, 2014, WCF (Cedar Valley) Courier "Waterloo D-Day sailor recalls 'miracle' survival" by Pat Kinney.
Glen McClain has a memorial in the back of his desk. A welder by trade, he has put together the yardarm of a ship with twelve rebar crosses.
He and his shipmates were sailing toward Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. He is the only one left. They never made it to the beach as their landing craft hit a mine and was obliterated.
Most of his men died that day. One had his lower jaw blown away and died the next day. The only other survivor, Nick Vasilou of Charleston, West Virginia, lost both of his legs. McClain saved him. They became lasting friends after that, but Nick died fifteen years ago of cancer.
Of the 100 soldiers they were carrying, nearly all of them died as well.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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