Fritz Weinschenk 1944

Fritz Weinschenk

Fritz Weinschenk was born in Mainz, Germany. Describing his Army service as the foremost experience of his life, Weinschenk landed in the first assault wave at Omaha Beach, June 6th 1944 and was attached to the 29th Division, which sustained the invasion's heaviest losses on June 6, 1944.

Weinschenk, who was "raging at the Germans," especially on D-Day, remembers being the first in his unit to march German prisoners taken from the pillboxes, down the bluff, to the beach in the hours after the invasion. He specifically recalls a chat with an Oberfeldwebel (German Sergeant) prisoner: "He had the Iron Cross and was in charge of some of the other supermen who were also on prisoner detail. He looked damn glad to be out of it but looked worried that we were going to keep them as long as they had kept the Poles and French. When I told him that we were, he almost started to cry."

His unit, the 293rd Joint Signal Assault Company spent 3 months in Normandy before being reassigned to combat duty in the Pacific theatre. Weinschenk is returning to Normandy for the first time this summer and coordinating a reunion with some surviving members of his unit. Our camera crew will accompany him.