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28 Army Hist. 1 (1993)

handle is hein.milandgov/aryhsy0028 and id is 1 raw text is: A R MY HISTORY THE PROFESSIONAL BULLETIN OF ARMY HISTORY PB-20-94-1 (No. 28) Washington, D.C. Fall 1993 Qualifying Operation OVERLORD Experts An Infantry School Initiative Albert H. Smith, Jr. This article has two distincr, bur Wterrelaredpars- closely following General Smith's OVEVRLORD edica- onalpro gram, Thef Irsrtdeals with thetn ri concept for theprogram andits beginmngrarForrflennng. Georgia (see he Project Chronology ar rhe end of dhe firsr seg- menjm The second part deals with the Normandy staff ride in France My intrest in Operation OVER LORD and the Allied amphibious arid airborne assaults into Normandy,France, goes back to 6 June 1944, when I landed on OMAHtA Beach at 0720. Tat D-day experience tnggered forry- nine years of personal research and study that continue to ibis day. Forthe past ten years I have served as an unpaid volunteer consultant on Operation OVERLORD to the Army's chiefs of staff and other senior comuanders. lost recently, it has been a special pleasum to advise and assist Lt. Gen Claude M. Kicklighter, U.S.A. (Ret) executive director of the fiftieth anniversary of World War It commemoration committee. From the outset, military planners recognized the imponance of telling the story of D-day again and again. Untilthe servicemen and women of today are made aware of the great 1944 Allied victory in Norm andy, the fiftieth anniversary of World War 11 cannot be considered com- pl te. I oping to do my pan to pass along the legacy of D day. I spent many hours exploring possible courses of action. Finally, more dream than reality, a promising parial solution emerged: I would ttae a hand in qualify- AT a dozen outstanding Army instructors as Operation OVERLORD experts. They in turn would be available to eIlr our soldiers.in addutiontornanyotheraudiences, wby one should honor our World War I1 predecessors who fought so well and achieved so much a half century ago. I chose the lnfantry School at On BennngGeorgia, as the best location to conduct a year long Operation OVERLOR D professional development program. The excellent facilities were familiarto me; theR would be a large cadre of exceptional officer instructors; and, most important, the commandant, Maj. CTIi. Jerry A. White. knew and trusted mc. [ made a written proposal from my home in Tucson, Arizona, on 30 May 1992, and General W hite accepted with enthusiasm on 5 June. As a D-day survivor and eyewitness and foriner Infantry School instructor, l was ideally suited formy role as senior tacher and mentor. I also served as a consultant to General White on all program matters, and, once we arived on the ground in France, I added the mle of staff nde leader. We decided to ask fbr volunteers, since there would be many hours of off-duty readings, research. and prepa- ration. Advanced course instructors were chosen over other faculty members because, once OVERLORD quali- tied, they would be in the best position to share their expertise. During our first discussion General White recog- nized the need torasenior faculty counierpan with whom I could discuss plans, requirmments, and problems ori a regular basis. Accordingly, he designated CAl Stephen Nash, director of the Combined Arms and Tacics De- partment, to assist in getting the OVER LOR D project off the ground. Several months later, when Colonel Nash's travel commitments (TDY) increasingly kept him away from Fon Benning, Col. Craiger Parker, the deputy assistant commandant. began to wor with me. This was a great arrangement, because from that moment on Colonel Parker was able to provide close, continuing. enthusiastic support for every phase of our endeavor. By design, our educational initiative was an orches- trated change-of pace pugramn. In the begning, there was a general introduction to the subject. Then, a month before our October seminar, each team's research was locused on a different battle area. The findings subse- quenly were shared with all participants during October seminar presentations.

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