From WNEM
A Mid-Michigan combat veteran is remembering the onslaught during D-Day.
Jerry Johnston, 94, found himself in a tank 75 years ago.
He was a farm boy from Caro and on D-Day, he stormed the beaches of Normandy.
“I was scared all the time. I was just a kid. I didn’t see many dead people before. God, I’ve seen them with their heads half off, arms blown off, guts hanging out, but I got used to it after a while,” Johnston said.
Then Johnston’s tank blew up.
“I got hit in the back with shrapnel. My ear drum blown out from a mortar shell. I laid there, I don’t know how long,” Johnston said. “I must’ve moved my arm or something and they said, ‘hey, this guy’s alive.’ They picked me up and put me in the base hospital. Then they patched me back and went back up in the tank again,” Johnston said.
But not for long.
“Wham! Another shell took it. And we all got out of that,” Johnston said. “We got out of that one too. I guess I was lucky.”
Johnston had nightmares after the war, but he found peace in his guitar and the love of his life, Louise. They were married for 70 years.
“My wife played too. She played the melody and I did the lead. We played all over. When she died, I lost interest in everything almost,” Johnston said.
But he has come out of the fog just like he came out of the war. Instead of a gun in his hand, the veteran now holsters his electric guitar.
“Last night I played my guitar for an hour and a half. I play it every day. I try different songs. That’s my life,” Johnston said.
Johnston plays his guitar at local retirement homes. His daughter said he just performed for some other seniors on June 6.