Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM World War II

Frank Walden | USS Anne Arundel (AP-76) - Navy

3:47   |   Navy Corpsman Frank Walden's first post was a hospital where he emptied bedpans. He asked for sea duty and got it, aboard the USS Anne Arundel, a troop transport. In the invasion of Sicily, he volunteered to go ashore and unload ammunition. That may be why he was reassigned to the new 6th Beach Battalion. If he was crazy enough to volunteer to go ashore, why not?

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Videos ( 3 )
WWII
  • Frank Walden  |  WWII  |  6th Beach Battalion  |  4:58

    Navy Corpsman Frank Walden went ashore at Omaha Beach with the Beach Battalion, a unit charged with managing the beach during the assault. After the shock of seeing the first bodies, and after a frightening rush to find safety in the chaos, he began to treat the wounded.

  • Frank Walden  |  WWII  |  6th Beach Battalion  |  4:36

    He was rushing to treat wounded men on Omaha beach when he was wounded by shrapnel from a German 88mm gun. Navy Corpsman Frank Walden describes the effects of the blast and his evacuation from the battle. After recovering back home, he was still obligated to serve until he was twenty one, but there would be no more artillery targeted on him.

  • Frank Walden  |  WWII  |  6th Beach Battalion  |  5:09

    Frank Walden has been back to Omaha Beach twice. The first time, traveling on his own, he almost didn't get there. The second time was the 50th Anniversary and he secured seating right up front at the ceremony. He insisted that the tour bus stop at a German military cemetery. After all, those boys were the same age as ours.

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