Eighty years after the D-Day invasion, Libertyville resident Don Carter still recalls in detail his experiences as a 19-year-old on the Normandy beaches.
Carter, now 99, was part of the second wave of the invasion of Normandy, landing on Utah Beach two days after D-Day as an artillery member of the Fourth Infantry Division.
“It’s very hard to tell how I felt then, now,” Carter said. “It wasn’t like I was there alone, everybody was in the service … I don’t regret any of it.”
After the initial invasion at Normandy, Carter and the Fourth Infantry Division recaptured from the Germans the French port city of Cherbourg. The division was later the first U.S. infantry division to enter Paris.
Carter survived 11 months of heavy fighting through France and Germany, in major battles including the Battle of Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge, before returning to the U.S. once the war ended.
A native New Yorker, Carter graduated from the University of Buffalo before embarking on a 51-year career in sales. He and his wife, Mary, moved to Libertyville in 1974. Now six months shy of his centennial birthday, Carter has continued to live on his own since Mary passed away in 2019.
Don Carter has lived in Libertyville for 50 years, and remains involved in the community and in the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the village’s Memorial Day celebrations.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
In the many years since the war, Carter has had the opportunity to return to Normandy several times. On the beaches where thousands of Allied troops perished and where more than 60 U.S. World War II veterans gathered this week to commemorate the anniversary, Carter said any sign of the turmoil that occurred there 80 years ago is long gone.
“You have to have a really good memory,” Carter said. “You go back there, and it’s just a great, big, long beach.”
According to the National World War II Museum, less than 1% of U.S. World War II veterans are still living. Of that number, even fewer fought in the Normandy invasion. Carter said that although he doesn’t flaunt his experiences, he tells his stories whenever he is asked to.
Libertyville resident and Word War II veteran Don Carter poses in his home wearing a sash given to him by the president of France.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
As the years have passed, Carter said that he finds people to be less interested in those stories. But within Libertyville, his service is still recognized.
“I’ve been fortunate in Libertyville, I belong to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, and they’re both very active,” Carter said, adding that he ran the village’s Memorial Day ceremony for a decade, up until last year.
While the village is not holding an official D-Day celebration, Carter said his neighborhood is commemorating the anniversary with a memorial party this weekend — and Carter will be the “honored guest.”
“Right now, most people aren’t interested,” Carter said. “But that group here, on my street, will be.”
