Three success secrets are forever etched in our hearts by American troops on D-Day.
They are on full display by the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion.
Their mission was to protect Allied soldiers from the Luftwaffe.
They overcame horror and danger with a success formula we can use today.
Forget about conditions. Focus on decisions.
When William Dabney hit the Normandy Beach, June 6, 1944, he . . .
- dodged bullets, shells and mines and
- quickly dug a foxhole
Then, he was shot.
“It didn’t take you long to dig a hole when you were getting shot at.” William Dabney
Dabney taped his wound and kept moving.
But, nothing goes as planned on landings.
The 320th took inflated balloons to shore until hydrogen stocks could be set up.
But German artillery nests took out balloons and soldiers like pesticide on an ant pile.
Dabney survived by making decisions instead of panicking.
Face it. We have to be gutsy in calamity.
Every day we face conditions adverse to our goals.
Power through adversity like the 320th and focus on the next decision at hand.
Forget about boundaries. Focus on bonds.
Sgt. George Davison will never forget the terror of his landing.
Everywhere men cowered on the beach, too scared to move.
“I took a place between two men. Nobody said anything to each other, just laid there eating that earth.” George Davison
Realizing he’d die if he stayed, he ran and heard a voice from a foxhole, “Get in here!”
A white soldier gave directions.
“I made a couple of giant steps and rolled in the foxhole.” George Davison
Davison forgot about racism and trusted the common bond of U.S. soldiers under fire.
Davison’s crew from the 320th were the only black soldiers on the landing craft with the 1stInfantry Division.
He recalled the men of the 1st as “the best group of men we had come in contact with anywhere.”
Breakthrough often lies just outside of calamity.
Forget recognition. Focus on good work.
One of the first men ashore from the 320th was a medic named Waverly Woodsen Jr.
In the first 30 hours of landing, he ignored his wounds and . . .
- resuscitated drowning victims
- gave injections
- extracted bullets
- performed amputations
After three days of treatment for his wounds, Woodsen charged back to the battlefield.
He was nominated for the Medal of Honor but didn’t get it.
No black soldiers did in World War II.
Recognition of their heroism has been slow.
While you see the balloons in Saving Private Ryan, there are no black soldiers.
But, the good works of Waverly Woodsen Jr., George Davison and William Dabney are recorded on the hearts and minds of all who hear their stories.
What can we do to honor these men?