America and her World War II allies just commemorated the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion at Normandy.
From the blood-soaked beaches and the cliffs of Pointe de Hoc, troops fought their way into the French countryside in their quest to liberate France.
Cherbourg, just east of the Normandy beaches, was of immense strategic importance to the allies. Major General J. Lawton Collins and his troops began their assault on the heavily fortified city on June 22, 1944. Among his troops was 1st Lt. Carlos C. Ogden of Fairmont, IL (and after the war, San Jose).
Tom Brokaw’s book, “The Greatest Generation” captivates us with examples of wartime heroics, while reminding us that veterans of that war were exceedingly modest and often reticent to reveal their own experiences.
Consider this passage from a letter Lt. Ogden sent to his wife and infant son back in California:
“I expect I had you worried when I wrote you from the hospital, but I was just back there for a rest and to let my wrist get better. I guess that I used it a little to (sic) hard and I fractured it again. I got two rounds of machine gun fire thru my helmet and was lucky enough to only get a couple of scratches from it. I also have a piece of shrapnel in my right cheek and a perforated right ear drum. For those few scratches I have been given the Purple Heart….”
As troubling as that narrative must have been for Louise Ogden to read, imagine her thoughts had she known the whole story.
In June of 1944, Lt. Carlos Ogden arrived in France with his Company K, 314th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division and headed toward Cherbourg. An official account of Ogden’s experience is more descriptive than was his letter home:
On the morning of June 25, 1944, near Fort du Roule, guarding the approaches to Cherbourg, France, 1st Lt. Ogden’s company was pinned down by fire from a German 88-mm. gun and two machine guns. Arming himself with an M-1 rifle, a grenade launcher, and a number of rifle and hand grenades, he left his company in position and advanced alone, under fire, up the slope toward the enemy emplacements. Struck on the head and knocked down by a glancing machine gun bullet, 1st Lt. Ogden, in spite of his painful wound and enemy fire from close range, continued up the hill. Reaching a vantage point, he silenced the 88 mm. gun with a well-placed rifle grenade and then, with hand grenades, knocked out the two machine guns, again being painfully wounded. 1st Lt. Ogden’s heroic leadership and indomitable courage in alone silencing these enemy weapons inspired his men to greater effort and cleared the way for the company to continue the advance and reach its objectives.
For his bravery and its results, Carlos J. Ogden received the Congressional Medal of Honor on June 28, 1945. A plaque memorializing Ogden’s service and courage in battle stands as part of the Veterans Memorial in downtown San Jose.
And, in what can be considered an apt metaphor for the post WWII era and the Alliance between former enemies that followed, one of the Ogden boys – Ralph — moved to Germany in 1972, where he enjoyed a notable basketball career as a player and a coach in international play; married a German woman; is the father of two lovely daughters who are proud American and German citizens, and a 12-year-old granddaughter, all of whom live in Germany.
Since divorced and now living back in California, Ralph Ogden will join the City of Cherbourg to speak at the ceremony marking the city’s liberation on June 28, and his father’s pivotal role in that decisive battle.
The story of two nations, two men and the love within one extended family demonstrates how the world can change, how we can live and thrive in a global community, and why we must always honor the brave men and women who helped make it all possible.
Les Francis, a San Jose native and graduate of San Jose State University, was deputy chief of staff in the Jimmy Carter White House.
