A Tall Texan Saved My Life - Pfc Edgar Peiffer πŸ“–πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ‡«πŸ‡·


A Tall Texan Saved My Life - Pfc Edgar Peiffer πŸ“–πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ‡«πŸ‡·

It's June 7, 1944, and a young 27-year-old Pfc Edgar Peiffer, a member of Company B, 38th Inf. Regt., 2nd Infantry Division steps out of a landing craft on Omaha Beach. But the water is deep and the weight of his gear pulls him down below the surface so he can't take a breath. Suddenly, someone grabbed him...

50 years later Edgar Peiffer remembered… „In 1994 my family and I attended the Company B Reunion in San Antonio. The first day at breakfast there was a tall Texan sitting across the hotel dining room from us. We invited him to join us because we recognized him from the reunion registration. The tall Texan timidly agreed to join us. Conversation was slow, but we enjoyed him and asked him what he was going to do for the day. He said he was going to stay at the hotel as he didn´t have a car. Without skipping a beat, my niece asked him to join us for the day. We were going to visit Fort Sam Houston where we had been stationed together.

Soon after breakfast we left for the fort. The gentle giant was starting to open up more, and conversation was starting to flow. We were asking questions of him and he of us. Just about fifteen minutes before we reached the fort, our tall friend started to tell us a story he had remembered about the invasion…

"The landing boats were approaching the Normandy shore, but the pilots didn't want to get too close as they were afraid of mines. Someone asked if the boats could be brought in close, but the pilots wouldn't do it. The ends of the boats were released, and the men started to jump from them into the water. They were carrying their weapons and were loaded down with all kinds of equipment on their backs. One guy in front of me jumped into the water with a large gun on his shoulder. It was as big as he was. This soldier was about 5´6“ tall and went right under the water. I saw him go down and start to go under the boat. Knowing he couldn't possibly get himself up, I reached down as far as I could and grabbed the back of his uniform collar. I pulled and pulled until I got him on to the boat. He just looked up at me and maybe for that brief moment realized that I had rescued him from death. There wasn't any time for a thank-you because our Company Commander had pulled out his gun and told the pilot to take the boat closer to shore because many of his men were going under as they got off of the boat."

After a brief pause, the tall Texan said reflectively. "You know, I have thought about that soldier for fifty years. I wish I knew who he was. I´ve wondered if he ever made it out alive and what kind of man he became. I´ve wondered if he ever thinks about that brief time we shared on the boat together…“

My niece gasped as I had told her this same story a long time ago except that I was the soldier who went under. I never knew who had saved me from drowning in the cold water that day until now. The tall Texan, Hollis Lee, was the man that saved me and I finally had the chance to thank him. Hollis Lee spent the day with us in San Antonio and became more to me than a reunion buddy that I had just run into. He was now a very special friend, a friend with a special bond. The kind of bond that only men who witness death, fear and despair together can have,“ Pfc Edgar Peiffer.

In memory of Pfc Edgar W. Peiffer (1917-2003) and his friend S/Sgt Hollis C. Lee (1920-2006), veterans of Company B, 38th Infantry Regiment. 🌺

πŸ“· Illustrative photo of the assault troops landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944 (U.S. Army Signal Corps/U.S. National Archives)

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