Vance "Red" Hill was 26, married with two children and another on the way when he enlister. He could have taken a deferment but his 17-year old brother was going off to war and Hill felt he should do the same.

Hill was on a landing craft in the harbor as the first wave of soldiers hit Omaha Beach. He watched as the boys went up the cliff and the (Germans) mowed them down. Hill recalls the only way to stop the firing, they burned them out (using flamethrowers). The tank outfits went in, the afternoon of June 6th, and Hill remembers going over the side of the ship on a rope ladder the next day. Hill served an important and dangerous roll as a point scout. He would go ahead of most of the forces. Hill recalls the day he almost lost this hands, which occurred several months after D Day. On point, Hill ran into machine gun fire, As he jumped into a ditch a mortar was dropped in. He spent one night in the field hospital, then was flown to the United Kingdom and his time as soldier was over after 15 months. One of Hills brothers was also part of the Normandy invasion His other two brother served in the Pacific Theater. His mother was proud of the four stars she had in her window. "Courtesy of The Columbus Tribute"