She wasn’t supposed to be there. By all rights, Martha Gellhorn should have been on a transport barge in the English Channel with the other journalists, safely out of the fight. But the night before, she had boarded a hospital ship, flashing her press credentials and claiming she was there to interview nurses. It was a ruse — but it worked. She slipped into a bathroom, locked the door, and spent a miserable night, seasick and hidden.
When she emerged the next morning, she had a front-row seat to one of history’s greatest moments: the invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944. Before her stretched thousands of ships, 160,000 men, and the thunder of bombs falling from the sky.
But it wasn’t her pen that was needed. The sea was filled with the dead and the wounded, and Martha jumped in to help however she could. By nightfall, she had waded ashore with the medics and stretcher-bearers, her hands blistered, her body soaked and exhausted. She followed the minesweepers inland, no longer just a reporter, but part of the story itself.
In those hours, Martha Gellhorn became the only woman to land on D-Day — not just an observer of history, but a participant. Her courage was proof that sometimes heroism arrives uninvited, and we either rise to meet it — or we don’t.
The Ultimate Guide to the World War II
Invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944.
Available in paperback here.
Wow! Thanks for that Joe.
ReplyDeleteMark in PA
But if she hadn't held her own, she would have just been another body under another cross in France. That there are women who believe they have the courage and ability to "be just like the men" is fine, but that doesn't mean everyone should pander to that belief.
ReplyDeleteSounds like she wanted to prove herself as a reporter. One determined enough to get The Scoop to risk anything and everything to Be there. Absolutely insane levels of badassery..
ReplyDeleteShe deserves a medal, but I can't decide which one...
ReplyDeleteGreat story. My favorite is Joe Torre, Hall of Famer. Radio man, scooting around the beach. Doing his job.
ReplyDeleteA great man, like so many that day. Rarely talked about it.