Memorial Day: Remembering the Sacrifices of Jimmie Monteith on Omaha Beach

With the 75^th Anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy approaching, I am preparing an article on the US assault on Omaha Beach.  In the course of my research, I have come across numerous stories of valiant young Americans who did incredible things against overwhelming odds to make the landing on June 6, 1944 a success.  I cannot include them all but I thought for Memorial Day it would be appropriate to honor one of the brave men who fell 75 years ago in “the Great Crusade” to liberate Europe from Nazi repression.  I chose Jimmie Monteith, a native of Virginia and longtime resident of my hometown Richmond, Virginia who was awarded the Medal of Honor at Bloody Omaha.

Operation Overlord required years of careful planning, coordination between nations and service branches, specialized training, an intricate intelligence operation to marshal the largest amphibious landing in world history.  On the first day alone, the Allies planned to land 156,000 troops supported by 50,000 vehicles and artillery pieces all carried to France on an armada of 5,000 ships.  11,000 aircraft of every model and purpose would fly bombing and support missions.  This invasion force would grow to over two million men with over 170,000 vehicles within a month.  In spite of over two years of  intricate scheming and strategizing, the plan fell apart as soon as the landing craft hit the beach.  Aerial and naval bombardments failed to neutralize German defenses.  Landing craft deposited men haphazardly, often in water waist or chest deep, sometimes over their heads.  As the ramps dropped, machine gun fire raked American troops.  Pre-sighted mortar and artillery shells dropped into the surf in a spray of shrapnel.  The casualties in the first wave were horrific.  Those who managed to reach the edge of Omaha Beach found no respite on dry sand.  Heavy German fire continued to fall in sheets of lead death for men scrounging for almost non-existent cover in the surf.And yet, the D-Day invasion succeeded.  The reason was simple.  Small groups of men lead by courageous NCOs and junior officers summoned all their courage and ingenuity to find a way off the beach.  These few men succeeded in running the gauntlet of machine gun fire, landmines and barbed wire climbing the 60 foot cliff to begin assaulting German positions.

Jimmie Monteith was one of these brave pioneers.  Thanks to Monteith and others who attacked the Germans on Omaha’s clifftops, German fire slackened.  Men on the beach seeing their brothers in arms struggling on the cliff rim took heart and began following.  Soon more men were making their way across the beach and up the cliff pushing back the German defenders and opening the way for tanks, trucks and heavier weaponry to get off the beach and engage the enemy.  By days end, the Normandy landings were a success, even at Omaha.  A great deal of credit goes to the first men to take the fight to the Germans.

Jimmie Waters Monteith, Jr. was born in the tiny town of Low Moor in the Alleghany Mountains of Virginia in 1917.  He moved to Richmond at the age of 9 graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1937.  Later that year he matriculated to Virginia Tech (at the time named Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) majoring in mechanical engineering.  After two years, he left Tech returning to Richmond to work at Cabell Coal Company as a field representative.  The US was not yet at war but it was only a matter of time.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress passed the first peacetime draft in US History in October of 1940.  With war clouds gathering, Monteith received his draft notice the following year just two months before Pearl Harbor.

Monteith enthusiastically entered Army life excelling in basic training and receiving a promotion to corporal.  Later he went to Officer Training School emerging with a 2^nd lieutenant commission.  After the war began Monteith continued training and eventually transferred to the storied US 1^st Infantry Division in March of 1943.  Organized in 1917, the “Big Red One” suffered the first American casualties in World War I.  The division fought through German trenches, chemical weapons, and bullets in both the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives, part of the final drive to force Germany to surrender in 1918.

Within three months of joining the Big Red One, Monteith found himself in Algeria as part of the US invasion of Africa.  The 1^st Division received its baptism of fire against Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Corps.  Then the Big Red One landed at Gela in the invasion of Sicily engaging the veteran the Herman Goering Division in the mountainous Sicilian countryside.  Monteith never discussed his battle experience in Sicily in letters home but he received a battlefield promotion to 1^st lieutenant.

Instead of joining the US 5^th Army for the invasion of Italy, the 1^st Division was transferred back to England to participate in the invasion of France.  Known as Operation Overlord, Allied planners intended to land forces on the coast of Normandy as the main thrust towards Germany.  Building up the forces, materials, and ships took two years.  The 1^st started training for the invasion on January of 1944.  By May, Allied forces were ready to launch a strike across a 25 mile stretch of beaches codenamed Juno, Sword, Gold (British and Canadian forces), Utah, and Omaha (US forces).  Three additional airborne divisions would parachute onto the flanks of the beaches to prevent German reinforcements.  Unfortunately, the notoriously stormy weather in the North Sea delayed the invasion until June.

Finally on June 6^th soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division began descending rope netting to board landing craft off the coast of Normandy.  The veteran 1st Division and untested 29^th Infantry Division would be landing at Omaha.  One of the boats carried 1^st Lieutenant Jimmie Monteith, and a platoon he commanded towards Omaha Beach.   Monteith’s L Company platoon was part of the 16^th Battalion constituting the first wave to assault the eastern portion of Omaha landing on sections codenamed Easy Red and Fox Green.

The Allies met only moderate resistance on four of five beaches, but  Omaha Beach was different.  A crescent shaped cliff ringed the beach studded with concrete pillboxes and bunkers amidst a maze of interconnected trenches.  The Germans concentrated their defenses around five draws, valleys in the cliff wall where vehicles could drive off the beach.  Two divisions of German infantry and artillery had plenty of time to test the range of their weapons.  They had created detailed charts with accurate ranging information for machine gun, mortar and artillery fire for every part of the beach.

Not surprisingly, the landing quickly devolved into a massacre, especially for the first wave.  The Americans were supposed to focus on capturing the draws to allow supporting vehicles who could drive off the beach and attack inland.  The troops tried to follow the plan but those who landed in front of the heavily defended draws were decimated in minutes.

Machine gun fire supported by heavy mortar and artillery fire strafed the Americans as they charged out of landing craft.  To make matters worse, many soldiers jumped into water that varied from waist deep to over 6 feet.  Weighed down with over 60 lbs. clothing, arms, ammunition, explosives and other essentials, some drowned before they could cut away their equipment.  Others had to swim and then slowly wade through the water as they took incessant fire from the cliffs above.  As many as half of the men who landed in the first wave were killed or wounded before they reached the shoreline.  Exhausted, they sought cover on a small rock shingle and behind German obstructions.  Many chose to go back into the water using the water as protection.

Monteith and the 30 men in his Higgins boat were lucky.  One of L Company’s 6 boats was hit at sea by artillery and sank, but the rest made it.  The ramp dropped for those five boats on Easy Red at the shoreline between two draws where the incoming fire was a little less intense.  Lieutenant Monteith led the way off his boat.  He did not pause, he and his men ran as fast as they could across 200 yards of open beach for an embankment that could provide cover.  Because they arrived close to shore, the platoon did not have to shed weapons and equipment to avoid drowning.  Moving out quickly was Monteith’s first good decision of the day.  Had he waited at the shoreline, he and his men would have taken a lot more fire and suffered many more casualties.  Experience in Sicily and Africa paid off in moving to the embankment where German machine guns did not have good sight lines.

Once at the embankment, Monteith had a moment to assess the situation.  Most of the men of the Big Red One faced heavily defended draws and were still trapped at the shoreline.   Monteith had most of his platoon, but they could not wait long.  Even though German machine guns could not reach them, grenades tossed from the clifftop, mortar and artillery shells could.  Easy Red was also a comparatively short beach which was an advantage when crossing under fire, but the tide was rising and within two hours, the water would reach the embankment.

The terrain on the cliff was not as steep as in other places at Omaha, but the Germans had accounted for that building a strongpoints, named WN 60 and WN 61 sitting atop the cliff.  Company Commander Captain John Armellino ordered Monteith to lead an attack up the cliff to open the E-1 draw from the right flank.  A German pillbox was covering the area Monteith’s men would have to cross able to mow the American infantrymen down before they could reach the base of the cliff.  Monteith braved heavy German fire walking to two tanks on the beach.  The tankmen had closed their hatches to avoid machine gun fire so Monteith banged on the sides of the tanks to get their attention.  Then he walked in front of them until they reached firing range and in short order knocked out the pillbox.

Returning, to his men, Monteith personally led the effort to blow a hole in double rows of barbed wire and then cross a minefield to begin ascending the cliff.  L Company received some timely aid from a destroyer at sea, the USS Doyle opened fire on German positions which slowed their fire.  Men with BARs (Browning Automatic Rifles) remained at the bottom providing suppressing fire killing several defenders.  Monteith and his men used the cover of shrubs and depressions in the cliff to advance.  The two tanks Monteith had contacted opened fire on the cliff as well with one knocking out a 75 mm howitzer.  Additionally a few other L Company men under the command of Lieutenant Kenneth Klenk reached the top of the cliff on the left flank of the E-1 draw clearing Germans from the trenches.

Monteith’s men were on the cliff rim moments later attacking German defenses on the right flank.  They killed a number if Germans forcing the rest to surrender.   Taking out the defenses around the E-1 draw and the surrounding trenches reduced fire on the beach significantly saving many American lives.

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Silencing the German bunkers and pillboxes did not end the fight though.  Beyond the cliff, the Americans encountered the centuries old web of what the British referred to as “hedgerows.”  British hedgerows were thin walls of bushes.  French hedgerows were much different.  Since 1,000 AD, Norman farmers in the area marked their fields with mounds of dirt.  Over the centuries, these mounds became taller and thicker 8-10 foot walls, wide enough for trees to grow on top.  After 1,000 years the hedgerows were as thick as 10 feet, hard packed, and reinforced with tree roots making them as formidable as concrete.  The trees and undergrowth atop the hedgerows provided excellent cover.  Fire from snipers and machine gun nests were difficult to spot and made German defensive positions impervious to frontal assaults.  The Allies would soon realize the hedgerows were much more formidable than concrete bunkers and barbed wire on the beaches.

German troops concentrated in the hedgerows setting up positions on the flanks and rear until Monteith and his men were virtually surrounded.   The Germans called down demanding surrender and promising a slaughter if refused.  Monteith ignored them and positioned his riflemen under cover to return fire.  He then followed the sound of the Germans’ voices to discern where they were in the hedgerows.  Monteith advanced alone under fire until he was within 20 yards of the machine gun nest on the Americans’ right flank.   From there he fired a grenade with a rifle launcher that silenced the position.  Turning back, Monteith crossed 200 yards of open field under fire to launch a grenade at the other machine gun nest on the left flank.  The grenade fell short probably because the German position was well hidden.  Monteith stood up to draw their fire.   Now fully aware of the machine gun’s location, he fired another grenade knocking it out.

By this time German reinforcements arrived on the right flank opening up with rifle and automatic weapons.  Monteith retraced his steps across open ground returning towards the right flank to lead the defense there.  About halfway across, he was hit and killed by rifle fire at around 10:00 am.  Captain Kimbell Richmond arrived with mixed group of 3 companies from the 1^st Division shortly afterwards and the Americans had enough soldiers to clear the hedgerows of German defenders.. 

Monteith’s heroics had an effect though.  Clearing WN 60 and capturing the surrounding clifftop ended the murderous machine gun fire on part of the beach allowing reinforcements to climb the cliff and join the fight.  By the end of the day, the 1^st Division had established the beachhead and opened the E-1 draw making it possible for tanks and armored vehicles to get off the beach

D-Day ended with the Allies firmly in control of four beaches and mostly in control of Omaha.  In the following weeks they would face a tougher challenge clearing the Norman hedgerows.  Nevertheless, the shock of the slaughter at Omaha has become one of the defining moments in American History.  The individual stories of bravery and sacrifice quickly became well known including Jimmie Monteith’s.  The US Army commander General Omar Bradley immediately recommended Monteith for the Medal of Honor and when Eisenhower heard the story, he seconded the recommendation without hesitation.

Monteith’s mother Caroline received the medal in a simple ceremony in her home in Richmond, Virginia on March 19, 1945.  She placed the medal around a photo of her son on the mantle.

Americans have not forgotten Monteith in the decades since his death.  His alma mater, Virginia Tech, named a student housing building constructed in 1949 the Jimmie W. Monteith Jr. Residence Hall.  Virginia Tech’s Richmond Alumni Chapter presents an annual award in his honor to the “senior outstanding in scholastic, military, athletic, and organization activities.”  Additionally, a court at Ft. Benning; an army reserve center at McGuire Veterans Administration Hospital, the barracks housing the 16th Infantry Regiment headquarters in Furth, Germany, and an army camp near Gnjilane, Kosovo have all been named in Monteith’s honor.

Jimmie Monteith’s exploits inspire great admiration.  But he was not the only man who went beyond the call of duty.  Many others also fearlessly risked their risked their lives.  Many did not come home.  I hope in reading about Jimmie Monteith’s selfless bravery we can take a moment to remember all those young men who strived and died to make the world a better place 75 years ago on this Memorial Day.

Medal of Honor Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, near Colleville-sur-Mer, France. 1st Lt. Monteith landed with the initial assault waves on the coast of France under heavy enemy fire. Without regard to his own personal safety he continually moved up and down the beach reorganizing men for further assault. He then led the assault over a narrow protective ledge and across the flat, exposed terrain to the comparative safety of a cliff. Retracing his steps across the field to the beach, he moved over to where 2 tanks were buttoned up and blind under violent enemy artillery and machinegun fire. Completely exposed to the intense fire, 1st Lt. Monteith led the tanks on foot through a minefield and into firing positions. Under his direction several enemy positions were destroyed. He then rejoined his company and under his leadership his men captured an advantageous position on the hill. Supervising the defense of his newly won position against repeated vicious counterattacks, he continued to ignore his own personal safety, repeatedly crossing the 200 or 300 yards of open terrain under heavy fire to strengthen links in his defensive chain. When the enemy succeeded in completely surrounding 1st Lt. Monteith and his unit and while leading the fight out of the situation, 1st Lt. Monteith was killed by enemy fire. The courage, gallantry, and intrepid leadership displayed by 1st Lt. Monteith is worthy of emulation.

For another World War II veteran’s account of a near death experience in North Africa, please see:

Another Veteran’s Day Remembrance from my Uncle Weldon Reynolds

 

Sources:

Ambrose, Stephen, D-Day June 6, 1944: the Climactic Battle of World War II.  New York City: Touchstone, 1994.

Balkoski, Joseph, Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944.  Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2004.

https://www.omaha.com/news/military/d-day-by-the-numbers/article_9a71409c-e2cc-11e3-a28c-0017a43b2370.html

https://www.vtmag.vt.edu/sum09/retrospect.html

https://www.ocshistory.org/army_museum/moh/monteith.html

 

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