Family member’s experience lives on 80 years later

In a mere two days, on Thursday, it will be the 80th anniversary of the largest expeditionary invasion in the modern era of warfare.

For me, this brings back memories of a late family member who was there on that fateful day, which in 1944, fell on a Tuesday.

Gaylord Grubbs was my grandfather’s brother’s son. He was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1942. He was in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, then was given a brief “break” and ordered to a staging area in merry olde England. 

This had the serious ramifications of placing him on a beach named Utah, on a date known as D-Day. Yep, 80 years ago this very Thursday, June 6, 1944.

Gaylord went ashore on Utah Beach onto the coast of Normandy, France.

Miraculously, Gaylord made it ashore amidst withering fire from every conceivable angle and direction. As fate would have it though, later the same day, further inland, he was almost blown apart at his hip/pelvis. 

His dog tags were shredded along the edge by the shrapnel he took. 

He was returned home to Indiana over six months later, still in a full body cast.

He went on to a full, wonderful life, and founded his business, Indiana Exterminating in Muncie, which he owned and operated until his retirement. 

He never walked right again after D-Day, and had one leg shorter than the other, as a result of the severe damage to his hip. 

I never heard him complain about it, but I do know he had numerous bouts with health complications from his severe injury, pretty much his entire life, off and on. He still occasionally said he was one of the “lucky” ones from D-Day. 

As a young boy, I always thought of him as a genuine hero, and was honored beyond my ability to put into words to be able to attend his Honor Guard Ceremony at his gravesite and to be in uniform to assist in folding and presenting his casket flag on the day in August 1996 when we laid him to rest at Salem Cemetery near Modoc.

Gaylord was there for one of the truly pivotal moments in the entire history of the world. 

As the then-junior Stars And Stripes reporter Andy Rooney said of his experience there, “The Normandy invasion was quite simply the most unselfish thing that one group of people have ever done for another.” 

Today, the Colleville-Sur-Mer Cemetery overlooks the quiet, peaceful, idyllic setting.

There are thousands of white crosses and Stars of David marking the graves of those who fell on that awful day.

The concrete bunkers are still there to this day. One stands at that scene and weeps. Your heart knows and feels what your head just cannot comprehend. 

Yes, my friends, Normandy is a sobering place, not to ever be forgotten. 

It was an honor to know you, Gaylord.