Sauel J Di Paola

Pfc Sauel Di Paola was killed in action on 06 June 1944, serving with Company C, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment. On D-Day, 1st Battalion's Company C came ashore on Easy Red Beach roughly seventy minutes behind schedule, landing off course between the sectors held by the 2nd and 3rd Battalions after enemy fire and rough water scattered the landing craft. The approach itself proved costly, with one boat group taking a direct artillery hit, and the company suffered further losses from machine gun fire and drowning in the chest-deep water just off the sand. Pinned down until engineers cleared a lane through the beach minefield, the men fought their way up the bluff to reorganize, capturing several prisoners along the way, then pushed about 1,000 yards inland under sniper fire to the Manor House west of Colleville-sur-Mer. There they weathered an artillery and mortar barrage, tried to advance again against heavy resistance, and finally dug in for the night as large numbers of enemy troops were spotted to the south - actions that helped earn the 1st Battalion a Distinguished Unit Citation. Pfc Di Paola was killed in action that day; the report does not specify the individual circumstances.