Company B, 116th Infantry Regiment

Company B, 116th Infantry Regiment. . Called up from Lynchburg, Virgina, to become another of the twelve letter companies in the 29th Infantry Division's 116th Infantry Regiment, Company B, under the command of Captain Ettore V. Zappacosta, was scheduled to land on the Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach by H+30. Its mission, like that of the other two second-wave companies of the 116th Infantry's 1st Battalion, was to face toward the Vierville exit and reinforce Company A. In the poor light and rough seas, the six assault landing craft (LCA) transporting the company could not spot the landmarks that were to have been used to guide them to the vicinity of their landing sites. , , The distraction of outgoing rocket fire in support of the second wave's assault exacerbated the difficulties of the landing, and the inbound troops in three of the LCAs were distributed over a mile left and right of the center of Dog Green. Elements of two of B Company's boat teams found themselves pinned down at the seawall several hundred meters west of the les Moulins exit. Their casualties were light relative to those of the teams in the Company B LCAs coming in closest to where they should have been. Those LCAs were in serious trouble at once. One was destroyed by a mine or artillery fire before it could drop its ramp; another offloaded its team in a runnel that was over the heads of many of the soldiers. By the time the third one grounded in the tidal flat, the German defenders had what was left of all three LCAs well targeted. In short order, the new wave in the Dog Green sector became intermingled with the ruins of Company A and the remainder of the 2nd Ranger Battalion's Company C, which had also taken heavy casualties debarking. , , Temporarily delaying its assault on Pointe de la Percée, the Ranger Company joined forces with troopers from Company B to neutralize the enemy strongpoint that had thus far all but stalled the invasion. The soldiers' on-the-spot integration of basic infantry tactics and commando skills demonstrates the high quality of training both units had received, and the action itself made an invaluable contribution to opening the beach to subsequent waves. , , Because of its National Guard origins, this company, like the others in the 116th Infantry Regiment, had a number of Virginians in it on D-Day. Few of Company B's soldiers got through the day without receiving wounds, and many of them were killed, including eleven men from Lynchburg. The company's unit decorations include the Presidential Unit Citation and French Croix de Guerre with Palm. , , Erected in memory of Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Gay Jr., of Lynchburg, Virginia, a patriot, soldier, and gentleman, who served with the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team and Virginia National Guard. Given, in loving tribute, by his friends in and around Lynchburg, Virginia.