World War II vet remembers D-Day from Morristown

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MORRISTOWN, Tenn. (WVLT) June 6th, 1944 - a day that turned the tides of World War II.
One hundred fifty-six thousand allied soldiers stormed the beaches of France. One of those men, now 91 years-old, still remembers the day he and his troops landed at Normandy Beach and changed history.

To us it's a page in the history books or a scene out of a movie. But for one Morristown man, it's his life. It's been 69 years since Clarence Everett Noe landed on the beaches of Normandy. He says, "You think of all the people with you and what happened. "

He never knew that invasion would be the turning point in the biggest war in our nation's history. Noe recalls, "It was another just invasion because they don't tell you anything. We didn't know where we were going."

His M company 18th Infantry Division stormed in dodging enemy fire trying to make it up to the machine gun nests. Noe earned a Silver Star that day for helping another soldier. Noe remembers, "I went back on the beach, picked up a kid and his arm was just danglin. I just dragged him onto the beach."

Everett got hit in the back of his neck helping the soldier. He had blood running down his back. Noe says, "Artillary was coming in. Mortars from on the beach were everywhere. There was wounded and dead laying everywhere."

He says it was just luck that helped him survive that day. Noe jokes, "I used to tell them I dug my foxhole deeper than they did."

Believe it or not, he says D-Day wasn't the toughest invasion for Noe.
He took part in three invasions. He says the worst was North Africa because he lost a lot more men. Noe got wounded and came home on a stretcher. He never spoke to any of his brothers again, but says he often thinks about them.

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