The American Cemetary above Omaha Beach
The burial ground is just a few steps to the left of the path that follows the edge of the cliff. The sectors of Omaha beach were given the codenames of Charlie, Dog, Easy, and Fox (west to east). What a killing zone! Who knows how many M1s and Carbines and GIs lie beneath these waters.
This link describes in sickening detail what happened to the first wave:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/196011/omaha
“At exactly 6:36 A.M. ramps are dropped along the boat line and the men jump off in water anywhere from waist deep to higher than a man's head. This is the signal awaited by the Germans atop the bluff. Already pounded by mortars, the floundering line is instantly swept by crossing machine-gun fires from both ends of the beach.
“At Boat No. 2, Lieutenant Tidrick takes a bullet through the throat as he jumps from the ramp into the water. He staggers onto the sand and flops down ten feet from Private First Class Leo J. Nash. Nash sees the blood spurting and hears the strangled words gasped by Tidrick: "Advance with the wire cutters!"
“ It's futile; Nash has no cutters. To give the order, Tidrick has raised himself up on his hands and made himself a target for an instant. Nash, burrowing into the sand, sees machine gun bullets rip Tidrick from crown to pelvis. From the cliff above, the German
gunners are shooting into the survivors as from a roof top. By the end of one half hour, approximately two thirds of the company is forever gone.”