Pittsburgh-area man returns to the beaches of Normandy on D-Day 80 years later
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Eighty years ago, 150,000 Allied troops stormed Normandy, France on D-Day to rescue Europe from the tyranny of Nazi Germany.
A local man who was there that day returned to Utah Beach Thursday morning.
On June 6, 1944, the American assault on the Normandy beaches was a deadly affair that now-99-year-old Warren Goss of Sewickley recalls with clarity as he returned to the beach.
"It's the same memory I've had all my life – running up the beach and seeing the guys drop before me and what if my turn comes. It's hard to explain something like that," Goss said.
"You just keep running. They taught us if your buddy goes down, jump over him and get in there. That's all we did. All the boys did that," Goss said.
Goss spoke to KDKA-TV as he walked Utah Beach on a sunny and peaceful French morning, recalling the horrors of that day decades ago.
"By God, you cannot train for just what happened. You can't train for seeing a Higgins boat disappear. You can't train to see a guy get shot right beside you."
Eighty years later, he's happy most of Europe is free and the beaches of Normandy attract so many visitors.
"What I really think about the most is how precious it is now. How the people enjoy the beach. People are walking. I see boys and girls hand in hand. When I see that, it makes me happy that I done something to help them out," Goss said.
And while Warren Goss was in France, he had flowers delivered to his wife of 73 years back home in Sewickley.
"You fill my heart with happiness. God love him. He's so sentimental," Mary Goss said.
"Because I'm in love. That's why I do that. I love my wife," Warren Goss said. He said he still loves her and "she's a good person."
One thing Warren Goss does not want to be called is a hero.
"Absolutely not. No way at all. The heroes are down in the cemetery, and all I did was a job we were supposed to do. Those who survived it were very fortunate people," he said.
So will he return for the 85th D-Day at age 104?
"If the Lord takes over me, I'll be there," he said with a laugh.
Warren Goss and all those who survived combat in World War II, including the father of KDKA-TV's Jon Delano, may not want to be called heroes, but that's what they are, and less than one percent of those vets are alive today.