Ralph J De Ruzza

Pvt Ralph De Ruzza was killed in action on 06 June 1944, serving with HQ&HQ Co, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment. On the morning of 6 June 1944, Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry, left the transport USS Samuel Chase and went ashore in LCIs off the coast near Colleville-sur-Mer, landing on Easy Red sector of Omaha Beach forty minutes after H-hour. The men waded through rough, obstacle-choked water under heavy fire from concrete German positions on the hill overlooking the beach, then pushed through barbed wire and minefields to reach a sheltered assembly area beneath that high ground. In the reorganization that followed, several members of the company were confirmed wounded and evacuated, having suffered gunshot and shrapnel injuries during the landing. The company then moved inland through hedgerows and wooded terrain known to conceal enemy snipers and machine-gun nests, eventually establishing the battalion command post about two miles southwest of the beach as Allied aircraft and naval guns continued to support the advance. Pvt De Ruzza was killed in action that day; the report does not specify the individual circumstances.