Lincoln man looks back on what he experienced during D-Day 75 years ago

The anniversary for the invasion of Normandy was 75 years ago on Thursday, for Charles Hauptman, a Lincoln native, joined the Navy when he was 16 years old after his neighbor died during pearl harbor, and after his mother signed off to let him fight, he soon found himself along the shores during D–Day.

“I remember the biggest problem, I took care of the controls of the ship going in and out and we went all over all of the soldiers laying the water, running over them and that sort of got to you. I mean they were all dead I’m sure but the water was just full of them, dead people,” Hauptman said.

Years after the invasion Charles took his wife and his family back to Normandy to visit Utah beach, and while the memory of that day is still on the forefront of his mind, he says everything else has changed on those beaches.

“It didn’t look the same anymore. They had built it up with houses and everything else, when we were in there it was just sand,” Hauptman said.

75 years later Charles remembers every detail of that day, and while it changed it the world he and his fellow soldiers had a job to do.

“When your 19 20 years old nothing is really important you just do it no big deal, we just done it,” Hauptman said.