Nelson Bryant and Roger L Kitchen were both in Company D at the time they jumped into Normandy.  , Bryant was a Private First Class and Roger was a Corporal at the time.  Both survived the war and Bryant recently sent this anecdote to us.

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May 8, 2004

   There's an amusing story about my buddy, Roger Kitchen, when he and I were last together... it might have been about 20 years ago .. He and I were shad fishing on the Delaware from a skiff.

   Out of the blue, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet and handed me $100.

   "This is late," he said," and I apologize."

   "What's this about?" I asked.

   "You obviously don't remember, " he said, "but coming back from Marseilles on a Liberty ship after the war, do you remember all the poker games and crap shooting?"

   "Yup," I replied.

   "Well," he said, "I had lost all my money and you staked me to $100 to try to get it back. I apologize for being so late and while I'm at it, there's another apology due."

   "What's that? I asked.

   "I apologize for reporting you dead.  On that patrol out of Hill 30 in Normandy when you took a machine gun bullet through the chest and your fellow scout was killed by the same burst ... the rest of us moved beyond and then ran into more than we could handle ... on our retreat I stopped and looked down at you; you weren't moving and ants were crawling in and out of a pool of blood that had come from your mouth.  It was clear that you were were dead and I told them so a short while later when we were trying to get reorganized back at Hill 30."

   I thanked him, pocketed the money and the recollection and we went on casting for shad.