Nebraska D-Day survivors cross paths at World War II Memorial
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By ASTRID MUNN / For the Lincoln Journal Star
WASHINGTON — Some stories are too good to keep to yourself, especially when you were one of the first soldiers to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day.
Two Nebraska veterans who were at the vanguard of the Invasion of Normandy in 1944 swapped stories at the National World War II Memorial here Wednesday.
Their one-day trip was made possible through the Heartland Honor Flight, a volunteer program that provides expenses-paid tours of national war memorials for World War II vets. This was the group’s sixth flight.
To contribute to the Heartland Honor Flight:
* Contact John Liebsack, state adjutant and quartermaster for the Nebraska VFW, at (402) 464-0674 or vfwne@alltel.net.
* Or, send a check to: Heartland Honor Flight-VFW, P.O. Box 4552, Lincoln, NE 68504. Contributions are tax-deductible.
Hundreds of vets still waiting to go
After this sixth flight, 745 World War II veterans from Nebraska and western Iowa will have visited Washington through the Heartland Honor Flight.
But 800 remain on the waiting list.
Coordinator Bill Williams is making it a goal to take the vets on the waiting list to Washington by Memorial Day. He’s trying to move quickly because an estimated 900 World War II veterans die each day, he said.
The group is trying to book a Boeing 747. The jet can accommodate about 400 passengers, and organizers would take half of the vets to Washington the first day, return to Omaha, and then take the second half.
Back-to-back trips would save about $50,000, but it’s still expensive.
Williams said $600,000 is needed to transport the remaining vets. Heartland Honor Flight will collect donations through the winter.
“I have every confidence that Nebraskans are going to step up and help us get this done, because we want to give every World War II vet this opportunity,” he said.
-- Astrid Munn
“Having two Omaha Beach veterans on the same trip is amazing,” said Bill Williams, who organizes the flights with his wife, Evonne.
Bernard Nider, 83, of Lincoln, was a 19-year-old in the Army’s 116th Infantry, 29th Division during World War II. His boat carrying 33 men was hit and began to sink as it neared the shores of Omaha Beach. To get ashore quickly, he and a fellow soldier left their backpacks behind and stuffed their gas masks with ammunition and food.
After the war, Nider went on to own an asphalt company.
Nider’s storytelling attracted about a dozen veterans, volunteers and passers-by. Some of them pulled out cameras. That’s when fellow D-Day survivor Carl Praeuner, 87, of Battle Creek, jumped in.
“It gets to the point where you ask, ‘How far can you see and actually know what you’re seeing?’” he said of the terrain.
Praeuner, who was in the Army’s 16th Infantry, 1st Division, said he didn’t recall the cliffs Nider was describing in his stories.
“At a time like that, you don’t get much of the details like they did in ‘Saving Private Ryan,’” he said.
Although some World War II vets are reluctant to talk about their experiences, Nider and Praeuner said they enjoy sharing their D-Day stories.
“I love talking about it. So many people didn’t,” said Praeuner, who sold insurance for Farm Bureau for 28 years.
He said not enough people know about the invasion of France — the beginning of the end of the war.
“It makes me so angry when I talk to people — 50-, 60-year-olds — and they say, ‘What’s that?’” Praeuner said. “It’s sad. They don’t teach about wars in school anymore.”
Before Nider and Praeuner drew a crowd of visitors, the flight got off to a blustery start. Although it was sunny, afternoon winds picked up and the temperature never reached more than 40.
The 36 volunteers and medics on the trip were prepared with blankets for the veterans in wheelchairs.
Dr. Jeffry Hatcher, a volunteer medic, helped Nider switch from his VFW baseball cap to a warmer, Husker red stocking cap with “Heartland Honor Flight” embroidered on it.
Hatcher said Nider had some good war stories to tell, not all of them about Omaha Beach.
“Have him tell you about how he danced with Queen Elizabeth,” he said.
During a USO tour in London, Nider said, someone introduced him to a dance partner and revealed her identity later.
“She is an excellent dancer,” Nider said, laughing.
Former Journal Star intern Astrid Munn is working in Washington this semester as a Scripps Howard Foundation Wire reporter. Reach her at (202) 326-9866 or shws1@shns.com.
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