Testimony of Dr. Robert Buckley
D-Day veteran
Among those who survived the Omaha Beach massacre was Major Robert Buckley, a surgeon assigned to the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division. This testimony, posted to Germany on January 27, 1945, was in response to a question from U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Harold A. Cassell of the 116th Infantry Regiment.
After the war, Robert Buckley worked as a surgeon in private practice before joining the medical staff at the Kecoughtan Veterans Administration Hospital. Awarded the Bronze Star, he died suddenly at the age of 52 in 1960.
“You asked me what I know about the death of Commander John Sours on D-Day, since he and I were in the same landing craft. I remember very clearly what happened, and here’s how it all happened.
Very early that D-Day morning, after breakfast, “Big John” and I finished packing our things, and since our bunks were opposite each other, we helped each other secure the camouflage netting over our helmets. When the time came, we climbed onto the ship’s deck, which wasn’t easy that morning because of the swell and the weight of our packs… Nevertheless, we all made it (there were 26 of us then) and moved away from the big ship in our landing craft. We circled a bit in the water, then We headed towards the shore, of which we could only make out a thin outline due to the distance separating us.
Commander Sours was standing to my right in the barge; he was second in command at the front of the barge. As we approached, we thought it would be easy to cross under the machine-gun fire. We were all crouching at the bottom of the ship, which was slippery and covered in seawater.
Then the boat got stuck against a beach obstacle topped with a Tellermine. There was about 80 meters between us and the beach. The successive waves pushed the barge away from the obstacle, which then headed towards the shore, and then we disembarked.
I glanced to my right and could see Big John coming towards me. He saw me looking at him and called out, “How’s it going, doctor?” After reaching a narrow wall that allowed us to be more or less Less sheltered, I looked out over the ghastly landscape toward the sea. I was then able to immediately spot two men who needed to be pulled out of the water. With a private, I went to help them. One of them had a leg wound. The other, an officer, was lying with his head submerged in the water. When I lifted him, I recognized Commander Sours. He was already dead when I found him. From what I could see, it appeared he had been killed by a machine gun bullet to the head.
I then helped the soldier wounded in the leg cross the beach. While we were still in the water, I spotted a helmet floating. It belonged to Sours, and had been pierced by a bullet that had entered and then exited. As quickly as possible, Commander Sours’s body was moved to a sheltered spot on the beach. I took care to cover him well, as did many other soldiers. who fell that day.
I know you’re going to tell Mrs. Sours all this. That’s why I would have liked to add something else. I wanted to tell her that he was a good man, a truly very good man, who had earned everyone’s respect and admiration. And the men in the regiment who knew Commander Sours think like me.”
Robert Buckley, January 27, 1945
