





On the morning of June 6, 1944, Lt. Col. James H. Batte of the 87th Chemical Mortar Battalion landed on Utah Beach in Normandy, France. Moving inland as the beachhead expanded at the beginning of "The Great Crusade" to liberate occupied Europe, Batte and the 87th continued until “about noon on D-Day when a large number of gliders of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division carrying men, artillery, ammunition and various other supplies arrived in support of these two divisions and the 4th Infantry Division already on the ground.”
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