Photo By Sgt. Charles Leitner | U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. (ret.) Julia Kelly, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom who...... read more read more
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“Let me not then die ingloriously and without struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among me hereafter.”
-Homer, The Iliad, Scr. 22, Ln. 232
SAINT-LAURENT-SUR-MER, France - To look into the eyes of the elders is to look through the lens of history as it happened to those who were there.
The story of Charles Norman Shay begins like many others. He was born to the Penobscot Tribe of Maine, the eighth of nine children born to Leo Shay and Florence Nicolar. Given the nickname “Mohsskwehsosis,” Penobscot for “Little Muskrat,” Shay spent much of his youth living on the tribal reservation village on Indian Island, Maine, where he would often help his parents sell baskets and other novelties.
In 1943, nearly a year after he had graduated from high school, Shay was drafted in the U.S. Army and served as a combat medic in the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Inf. Div. When he landed on the beaches of Normandy he was a 19-year-old private. Young and terrified like many of those around him, Shay was an ordinary man asked to do extraordinary things.
“It was a very difficult landing because the Germans were well prepared,” said Shay. “They were waiting for us. When we went ashore in these small landing boats the Germans were able to pinpoint them and sink many of them and kill many Americans before they even got to the beaches.”
While under some of the most extreme combat conditions ever recorded, Shay moved up and down the beach working tirelessly to treat the wounded and the dying. The memorial, dedicated to Shay and erected in 2017 along the beach at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, tells of Shay repeatedly plunging into the treacherous sea, carrying critically wounded comrades to safety under heavy fire.
“It was difficult,” said Shay. “I cannot explain it to you because a lot of men died on these beaches. We lost a lot of men killed by the bullets of the Germans.”
In the chaos, Shay stumbled upon Edward Morozewicz, another combat medic and friend of Shay’s serving with the 1st Inf. Div. He was lying on the beach and suffering from a lethal stomach wound.
“There was nothing I could do for him,” said Shay. “He eventually died in my arms. I tried to comfort him.”
Unable to save Morozewicz and seeing how quickly the tide was rising, Shay took to the others struggling to establish themselves on the shores of France. Despite exposing himself to a gauntlet of enemy bullets and artillery, Shay went back into the surf to drag Soldiers too wounded to move from the fast approaching surf. Before the day was done, Shay saved the lives of 20 fellow Soldiers and for his actions was awarded the Silver Star.
“Damn near everyone Charles Shay saved did not look like him,” Lt. Col. (ret.) Paul Herbert, a historian and veteran of the 1st Inf. Div. “[He] was fighting for the United States of America despite the fact that his people could not vote.”
Shay’s crawl back through the tides and up the beaches of Normandy turned into a journey that would take him through Aachen, Hurtgen and the Ardennes. He would participate in every battle the 1st Inf. Div. fought in until his capture by German troops in Belgium after which he spent three weeks in captivity before the war finally came to an end.
“For Charles Shay and the Native Americans, it was their war too,” said Herbert, a statement as true for Americans of all colors and creeds who found themselves wading through the tides of the English Channel then further into Europe; Soldiers who served, knew that if freedom died in France and Europe then it wouldn’t exist elsewhere.
50,000 Native Americans served during WWII, of those, 25,000 served in combat roles. They represented indigenous nations from across the United States, including Apache, Cahuilla, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Coeur, d'Alene, Creek, Kumeyaay, Lakota, Lummi, Navajo, Nez Perce, Onondaga, Otoe, Passamaquoddy, Potawatomie, Seneca, Tuscarora, Wampanoag and Yuchi. It was not until 2014 that the first official commemoration of Native Americans who served during the Second World War was held at Utah Beach. The event remembered Comanche code talkers who used their language to fool enemy ciphers allowing the Allies to communicate amongst their own ranks in secret.
To celebrate the achievements of Shay and all indigenous people who served during the Second World War a ceremony was held at Shay’s memorial in Normandy where Command Sgt. Maj. (ret.) Julia Kelly, a member of the Crow Tribe of Montana and a veteran who deployed twice to Iraq with the 1st Inf. Div., conducted a tobacco ritual to honor those indigenous service members who were killed during the Invasion of Normandy and to remember those who have died.
“My task today and every year moving forward is to say prayer for all the Native Americans who lost their lives during WWII,” said Kelly. “I am reminded by Charles that I need to pray for everyone that lost their lives on D-Day who continued fighting through the villages, the hedgerows and the swamps to free France.”
Kelly conducted the ritual as such; placing a pinch of tobacco at the four directions of a compass twice. Her first pass remembered family and ancestors, her second, the Soldiers who were never able to return home; those of nations across the world from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, North Africa, Norway, Yugoslavia, the Philippines, Denmark, Belgium, Puerto Rico, Czechoslovakia, Brazil, South Africa, British India, the Soviet Union and the Republic of China.
“We’re a diverse nation,” said Herbert. “We’re a diverse Army. Every Soldier contributes to the military effectiveness of our Army so that we win. When our citizens look at us they need to see themselves so that we remain credible to the people we serve.”
Due to his age and health Shay was unable to attend the ceremony and bear witness to the hundreds of people gathered around the memorial erected in his honor. Like the others he served alongside, Shay’s legacy will continue with the telling of his story to others.
June 24, 2024 marks Shay’s 100th birthday. As he reaches a century of life, the memory of his actions continues to grow, one that encompasses service members from throughout the 1st Inf. Div., the U.S. Army and throughout the world.
| Date Taken: | 06.04.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.28.2024 20:11 |
| Story ID: | 478028 |
| Location: | SAINT-LAURENT-SUR-MER, FR |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The Healer: Legacy of 1st Inf. Div. Combat Medic Grows as Charles N. Shay Nears Century of Life, by SGT Charles Leitner, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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