LBI Man Fought On Normandy Beaches To Set Stage For D-Day

NORMANDY, France to SURF CITY, NJ — Sergeant John Gutbrod arrived in France hours before American troops hit the beaches of Normandy, setting the stage for the Longest Day. He will stand in France 75 years later, receiving honor for his impact on D-Day.

Gutbrod fought on the beaches June 6, 1944 — the beginning of the end for Adolph Hitler's reign. He was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, which landed in France before dawn that day.

The vanguard paratroopers fought a series of skirmishes overnight to protect the landing zones for the thousands of American soldiers who would arrive.

Seventy-five years later, soldiers from D-Day were honored in Normandy. President Donald Trump honored the dead and paid tribute to survivors.

Gutbrod, who was a paratrooper in the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 82nd Airborne Division, also fought at the Battle of the Bulge, the last major German offensive campaign along the Western Front during World War II.

He earned a Bronze Star for valor by singlehandedly taking out a German Panzer tank with a hand grenade. The veteran also earned a Purple Heart and nine other decorations for his actions. But Gutbrod never actually received the medals despite receiving a letter stating he was entitled to them.

Gutbrod finally received his medals in 2012 at an Ocean County Board of Freeholders meeting. Read more: WWII Veteran Receives Purple Heart, Bronze Star At Last

"I just wanted to get out of there and get home," Gutbrod said in 2012 of his service.

But as years passed, Gutbrod felt an increasing desire to receive the medals for his family. He asked Freeholder Gerry P. Little for help.

Commander Leonard Mueller, the former executive officer of Navy Lakehurst, pinned the Purple Heart on Gutbrod's lapel first as John Dorrity, director of the Ocean County Veterans Service Bureau, read the official citation from the government. Gutbrod received his Purple Heart after he was injured in the stomach when a mortar shell exploded near his foxhole in France.

The Bronze Star was next. The citation noted that Gutbrod saw the Panzer approaching his battalion headquarters and he charged the tank, tossing a grenade with a three-second fuse into the open hatch. The grenade exploded the tank's armament, destroying the tank. The force of the explosion threw Gutbrod over a hedgerow and into a field.

Gutbrod's family — son Eric, wife Moira and granddaughter Lindsay — beamed and wiped tears from their eyes as the medals were pinned on Gutbrod's lapel.

Gutbrod has also received the Legion on Honour, the highest French order for military and civil merits. Thanks to a fundraising effort, Santillo is returning to France for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Little said.

With reporting from Karen Wall/Patch

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