Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:43 | The popular film "Casablanca" introduced many men to a city across the Atlantic Ocean, but as Sorensen found out before the invasion of Normandy, the movies aren’t always accurate.
Keywords : North Africa Casablanca patrol Oran Normandy shore bombardment USS Thompson invasion
After graduating from Officer Candidate School, Sorensen and six other men in his class became instructors at the training facility. Shortly after, Sorensen was sent to Northwestern Medical School to get his teeth pulled which resulted in a painful but equally humorous situation.
While participating in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, Sorensen recalls the mass destruction on the beaches. Several men carried radios with which to communicate back to the ship to acquire targets, but that plan quickly failed. Sorensen searched out and destroyed several different targets on the beach from the ship, but in a couple of instances, he needed some help.
About 5 days into a 40 day assignment in the North Atlantic, Sorensen received a message in the middle of the night notifying him that he was to pick up some passengers from England at 8 AM. Upon arriving in England, the passengers were much higher profile than he could have ever expected.
While in the Pacific, an unofficial cease fire had been rendered between Japan and the United States. Sorensen and his men were part of the first group of ships to dock at a Japanese harbor, and Sorensen claims to be the first American to voluntarily set foot on Japanese soil.
