James W Martin

Pvt James Martin was killed in action on 06 June 1944, serving with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment. On the morning of June 6, 1944, the Regimental Troops of the 116th Infantry came ashore intact as part of the reserve battalion, arriving about ten minutes ahead of schedule. Only one boat section took on serious water crossing a submerged sandbar, but the landing itself brought no casualties; it was only after reaching the shelter of the sea wall, while waiting through the morning for the order to move, that the unit suffered its first losses. Pushing forward through the wire and up the mined bluff beyond, under machine-gun fire, cost the unit roughly fifteen more men killed or wounded before the high ground was finally secured in the early afternoon. From there the company split into separate groups, one crossing a wheat field toward the Vierville road and later joining Ranger elements to guard the regimental command post at a chateau that night, while the rest pushed independently toward Vierville before being halted by enemy fire and settling in along a low stretch of the road until morning. Pvt Martin was killed in action that day; the report does not specify the individual circumstances.