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Lieutenant Williams and Sergeant Price of B/116 Co.
"After their difficult landing at about 7:30 a.m. in the east of Dog White (near the current location of Richard tennis), on the left side of the main penetration, Lieutenant William B. Williams and 10 B/116 Cie men rest in the hollow of the seafront slope, on the sand. Five other infantrymen were hit by the firing of machine guns sweeping the beach. Six others, last seen sheltering in a pond, never heard of again.
As Williams trained his men to cross the road behind the slope, new mortar shells arrived. The men are dispersing. Williams leads 7 survivors on a trail that leads through the cliff above the fortified point of the descent of St-Laurent (Les Moulins). He recognizes the terrain and knows it's a big piece. The hamlet of Moulins controls the descent of St-Laurent, from which a road rises from the beach.
Williams and his group of seven soldiers were the first Americans to approach him in the morning of that day J. A machine gun fire coming from a concrete shelter passes on them as they approach the edge of the ridge, now crawling in the high grass. Williams said to the others: "Stay here, it's going to be difficult!" They huddle on the ground, and it crawls alone forward, by a small ravine. Without being noticed, he arrives 20 m from the gun, obliquely down there. He throws a grenade; but he has kept it a little too long and it explodes in the air just in front of the flame. His second grenade hit the concrete and bounced towards him. 3 of his shrapnel touched his shoulders. Then, coming out of the casemate, a German hand grenade flies towards him and explodes 1 or 2 meters away. Five more shrapnel tear him apart. He started crawling backwards towards his men; on the way, three machine guns hit him at the hip and right leg.
The seven infantrymen are still here. Williams extends his card and compass to Sergeant Frank M. Price said, "This is your job now. Go back to Vierville." Price starts looking at Williams' wounds, but Williams nods his head and says, "No, leave." He settles in a hole in the slope, stays there all day, and ends up receiving treatment just before midnight.
When he left Williams, the first thing Price did was to give the map and compass (command symbols) to Sergeant William Pearce, whose seniority had been ignored by the lieutenant. They go through a depression, one man at a time, and a little beyond arrive on a ravine; on the other side, they shoot at their first hedge, and as they seek a passage, shots arrive again towards them. Behind a second hedge, not more than 30m, there are 7 Germans, 5 rifles and 2 grenade launchers. In equal forces, the two groups fight almost an hour, apparently without anyone being hit. Then Pearce ends by crawling along a ditch on the side. He killed the Germans with a BAR gun.
For Pearce and his friends, this is the first combat experience. Success is exciting. With their heads high, they walk along the road to Vierville, without caution. They may reach it around 10:00, but fortunately the village is already firmly in the hands of the Lieutenant Walter Taylor (also from B/116 Cie) And the 20 survivors of his boat section.
