Remembering D-Day

The former paratrooper recounts his days in Normandy as if they happened yesterday.

"The bad part," Kennedy said as his eyes became teary, "was the anti-aircraft fire, which was so heavy. The plane I was in got hit … it shook three or four times. We didn't wait for the green light and starting jumping out. As I jumped, I saw the plane was aflame … some guys didn't make it."

How Kennedy came to serve his country begins from his origins as a Jewish child in Cologne, Germany just prior to the start of the war. He and his family lived there during a time when Nazis and Adolf Hitler was in control of the politics, and often the minds, of those around him.

As a Jewish teenager in a German high school, Kennedy suffered from teasing and ridicule because of his heritage. Eventually, he was summoned to the principal's office and told to leave the school and never return. This was just prior to Crystal Night, which marked the beginning of the mass persecution of Jewish people by Hitler and his regime.

On Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, 1938, mobs pillaged and destroyed Jewish homes, places of worship and businesses. Close to 100 people were killed, while another 30,000, all Jewish, were arrested and sent to concentration camps. The night is known as Crystal Night because of the sound the breaking glass made.

Kennedy managed to escape Crystal Night and the events immediately following it and, with the help of his father and the Swiss government, made his way to New York where he lived with an Italian family.

"I didn't understand the whole situation," said Kennedy.

In 1943, Kennedy decided to enlist in the American war effort against the Axis powers and joined the Army. He went through basic training in Little Rock, Ark. before becoming one out of two men from a room of 500 to volunteer for the 82nd Airborne.

As Kennedy was training for the Normandy invasion, his commander convinced him to change his name from Harry Kahn - a Jewish surname - to Harry Kennedy.

"He recommended I change my last name to avoid bad treatment if I was captured by the Germans," said Kennedy.

As the calendar turned to 1944, Kennedy and his fellow troops transferred overseas and ended up in their final staging area of Nottingham, England in March for final preparation and training.

When June 6 rolled around, the 508th poured into their planes for the flight over the English Channel. After making the fateful jump around 2:15 a.m., Kennedy and other surviving members of his regiment got to work patrolling, constantly on the lookout for German troops.

"We found a path at one point," said Kennedy, "which had little signs in German on either side of it. They warned about mines."

Further on, Kennedy and the other soldiers found a French farmhouse where several Germans had held up, using French farmers as human shields. When they were spotted, the Germans shot several of their hostages, killing them before fleeing. Kennedy recounted trying to help one of the farmers as he lay dying.

"I ran up to him and he said he felt very sick," said Kennedy. "He died right there."

After two nights of holding the farmhouse, Kennedy and the others left to continue patrols. A few days later, thinking they had come across some Germans over a bluff, they ordered them to surrender. No one responded and the Americans continued to see movement, so they shot whatever had been moving.

"We accidentally dropped a cow," said Kennedy.

After weeks of patrols, Kennedy finally returned to one of the secured landing areas to catch a ship ride back to England. As he watched the French countryside slide into the distance, he thought about the events he had been through and what was to come.

"I wondered what I was going to do after the war," said Kennedy. "I wondered who of my family in Germany was still alive and who wasn't. I thought about all of my buddies who had died."

After Normandy, Kennedy served in the invasion of Holland and saw action in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war ended, he served for some time in the occupying army in Germany before returning stateside. Even after his active service ended, he remained involved in the Army Reserve as an intelligence officer for 23 years.

As he prepares now to tell others about his experiences during one of the most devastating periods of human history, he hopes to impart the wisdom of his past onto those who will listen.

"People need to remember how bad it was for both sides," said Kennedy. "When have a conflict, they should talk about it and not immediately reach instead for a pistol."

He will tell his tale of a war long past 11:30 a.m. this Monday, June 7 at a Peninsula YMCA lecture honoring D-Day's 60th anniversary. The YMCA is at 1877 S. Grant St. in San Mateo. For more information call 286-9622.