Re: Ex-POW to Return to Omaha Beach

Date: May 17, 2004

"Survivors to return to Omaha Beach
By Alice Thrasher Staff writer

Al Alvarez remembers seeing signs on the bluffs at Omaha Beach with a skull and crossbones and a warning about a minefield written in German.

Al Alvarez, a volunteer at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum, landed with the 1st Division at Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, during the Allied invasion of France.

''There were wooden steps leading up to the bluff interspersed with American bodies," he said. ''We didn't know if they were victims of sniping or mines."

Alvarez, who lives in Fayetteville, was a 20-year-old private first class on D-Day - June 6, 1944. He had enlisted in the Army two years earlier.

''Gingerly, we groped our way up, crawling and avoiding the wooden steps, carrying equipment, which may have weighed 75 pounds," Alvarez wrote in stories about his experiences. "Arriving at the top, we realized that Lt. Ferrara had been hit in the inside groin, and he was bleeding profusely.'' Alvarez as a young soldier

Alvarez said he was one of the lucky ones to survive the assault on the beaches at Normandy. Thousands of Americans and British soldiers died in the largest amphibious assault in history.

Don Van Roosen of Pinehurst is another survivor.

Van Roosen was also 20 at the time. Both men grew up in Massachusetts. Van Roosen is from Newton and Alvarez from Chelsea. Van Roosen

Alvarez settled in Fayetteville after a 32-year military career. Van Roosen moved to Pinehurst eight years ago.

Both men have written about their experiences and have presented talks at museums and military reunions.

They had never met before last week. On May 30, they will be traveling as guests of the National Geographic Society to tell a tour group about their D-Day memories.

Both landed on a beach in Normandy 60 years ago on a cold, dismal morning and got soaked in the sea before they trudged up the cliffs into the teeth of the German defenses.

Alvarez and Van Roosen went ashore at Omaha Beach. Alvarez was with the 7th Field Artillery Battalion of the 1st Division. He fought with The Big Red One across Europe. Van Roosen was part of the 29th Infantry Division.

Both have been back to Normandy.

In June, they will return to France with about 90 tourists. Alvarez and Van Roosen will tell the group what the invasion was like. They will give talks at hotel dinners and on the tour buses as the group travels through England and France from May 30 to June 8.

The trip will cost the tourists $5,495 each. The National Geographic Society, which is sponsoring the tour, will pay expenses for the veterans and their wives, Florence Alvarez and Marcy Van Roosen.

A third speaker will be Tom Allen, a National Geographic historian who has written 30 articles for the society's magazine about World War II.

Jim Bullard is director of programming for the National Geographic Society. He said Alvarez and Van Roosen are ''very vigorous and very sharp with unbelievable memories of what the day was like."

He said the two men will be honored along with other D-Day veterans at the 60th anniversary ceremony in France on June 6.

Van Roosen made a similar trip last year to present talks on a National Geographic tour to Normandy.

Alvarez said a woman on a search committee for tour speakers heard him talk about his D-Day experiences at the Special Operations & Airborne Museum in January. Alvarez volunteers there twice a week.

''I got a call from National Geographic and they discussed it with me," Alvarez said. ''I could tell that they were interested in hearing my voice."

Some people at age 80 have wavering voices. His is strong.

Alvarez is in good health, does t'ai chi exercises regularly and walks at Cross Creek Mall. He used to present short essays on military history on WFNC radio.

He is a decorated veteran of World War II, Korea, the Dominican Republic and Vietnam. He retired from the Special Forces as a lieutenant colonel in 1974. He worked with government agencies in Fayetteville, helped manage the Capitol department stores and taught at Fayetteville Technical Community College.

POW

Van Roosen completed three years of active duty with the Army - part of the time as a prisoner of war. He ended the war as a first lieutenant. After the war, he joined the Army Reserve and belonged to the 11th Special Forces Group in Boston. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1970.

Van Roosen is the author of five oral histories on action in Normandy and has been chairman of the Symposia on D-Day for the 29th Division Association.

Alvarez has written of his wartime experiences. Some of his stories have been published in military magazines.

Alvarez said the beach is different than it was 60 years ago. He said his prior visits there have not been emotional ones.

Van Roosen said he found his first trip back to be emotional. He went by himself after a business trip to Paris.

''I was all by myself and had nobody to interact with," he said. ''I looked at those bluffs and wondered how we ever got up them with the firing coming down on us. It was my first combat as a private."

Staff writer Alice Thrasher can be reached at thrashera@fayettevillenc.com or 486-3569.
©2004 The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer"