Roosevelt Jr. Stormed Utah Beach

Despite a heart condition and arthritis that forced him to use a cane, 56-year-old Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. landed with the first assault wave at Utah Beach on D-Day. His commander had rejected two verbal requests to join the landing, but Roosevelt gained approval with a written petition arguing that his presence would steady the men he knew personally. Roosevelt was the oldest man and only general in the first wave to storm the Normandy beaches, and he was among the first soldiers out of his landing craft. When the force came ashore a mile off target, he calmly reorganized the attack and used humor and poetry to steady his men; he survived D-Day and later received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his leadership.

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