79 Years Later: Oklahoma Veteran Who Survived 1st Wave On D-Day Reflects On Invasion

June 6, 2023 marked the 79th anniversary of D-Day, when the Allies launched the invasion of Nazi-occupied France during World War II.

It's estimated more than 9,000 Allied troops were killed within the first 24 hours and the last known living survivor from the first wave is from Oklahoma.

Bill Parker said if it wasn't for his training, he couldn't have done it.

He was drafted and trained for 17 weeks in Texas and another four months in England, but nothing could have prepared him for the moment he stepped foot on Omaha Beach.

Joining the Army wasn't a decision Bill Parker made for himself. "You're smarter than that,” Parker joked.

He was selected during the draft and eventually attached to the 116th Infantry 29th Division.

"Man. Why would I want to go in the Army? I had an outside range. I had a good horse and saddle. I had the prettiest girl in Le Flore County,” Parker said.

But he was sent to Texas then to England. After months of training, he was aboard the USS Thomas Jefferson with a set course to Normandy.

Parker said the day started around 3 a.m. on June 6, 1944.

"I had beans for breakfast; nothing but beans,” Parker said.

Less than three hours later, Parker said he was climbing down a rope net into a landing boat. He was a wire cutter, which put him at the front of the boat.

As his boat neared the beach, a loud explosion caused it to stall and water started to rise.

"We had to go on across the beach. Wasn't no place to go back and we just had to go forward,” Parker said.

But with several German Pillboxes armed with machine guns, advancement was nearly impossible.

"We didn't have anything to knock them out. We had hand grenades, but we threw all of those,” Parker said.

He said luckily, Naval ships watching back out at sea saw the offensive was held off. They repositioned their battleships and aimed their cannons.

"They were shooting over our head about 6 feet, 7 feet over our head. That's the reason I can't hear now,” Parker said.

Parker said their ships hit their targets, destroying the pillboxes. This allowed him to move up the beach.

He entered one pillbox that was shooting at him moments earlier to find the gunner dead.

“I told him, 'Well, the war's not over, but your war is over and you didn't get me,'” Parker said.

Last year, Parker returned to Omaha Beach.

"I seen these kids that were playing on the beach, had their little dogs, and they were running and jumping and all. After I saw them, I never had another nightmare. They cured me,” Parker said.

Bill Parker continued to fight the war from Omaha Beach all the way to Germany until the war ended. Throughout his service, he engaged in more than 200 days of combat.