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ALEX SLAVISH Branch of Service: U.S. Army Hometown: Allentown, PA Honored By: Mark Nielson Biography Contained below are excerpts from discussions held with Alex (Al) Slavish on May 25, 1997, during the celebration of his 50th Wedding Anniversary, held in Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton, Pa. Al was with the Division Group, 175th R.C.T., sent to England about 18 months prior to D-Day. He spent most of the time in the south of England, with heavy training schedules. It was normal to do 25-30 mile hikes three to four times a week. The women in England were very interested in the GI's as most British men in the army and overseas. On D-Day, he was loaded onto an LST landing craft around 2 am, and assigned to drive a spare jeep off the ramp and onto the beach. He seemed to recall he landed at Omaha Beach around 4 am, but this seems early. In any event, it was before dawn when he arrived. When it came time to depart the LST, Al drove the jeep down the ramp, where it promptly sank. The LST had stopped short of the beach. Al had to to swim away from the jeep where he struggled to get on land. He had ammunition around his waste and a rifle over his shoulder. Al's unit, the 29th Division Group, 175th R.C.T., appears to have landed around area Dog. He thinks his initial target was around St. Laurent-sur-mer. When he got to the beach there were dead and wounded all around him. He struggled foot-by-foot to work his way up, hiding behind anything he could find. Al thought there might have been a few hundred men actually moving up the beach at the same time. When he got to the hills, the assignment was generally to destroy bunkers that were shooting down onto the beach. Typically, men would work their way around from behind and then throw a grenade into the bunker. The initial assignment that Al's group had was to take St. Lo` in three days. As it turned out, it took them about 45 days. Following St. Lo`, Al's group turned back towards Caen, and then inland to Paris. He marched through Paris, and then north through Belgium and Holland. From there he turned inland and ended up 31 miles south of Berlin on May 2, 1945. When his group met up with the Russians at the Elbe River they hugged and kissed each other. They thought Al was born in the Soviet Union because he spoke Ukranian to them. En route, his trip included the following locations: Maastrich, Holland Cross the Ruhr at Aldenhover Cross the Rhein at Cologne Fight in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium After May 7th, he was sent to Le Haerve, and then to Southampton in England. He returned as he had arrived, on the Queen Elizabeth. Click here for more of Al's interview!