Elmer Jensen, Navy veteran of the Normandy Invasion, seen here 60 years later in 2004 as he sits outside his fish market in South River, NJ.

One of the "Greatest Generation"

In June 1944, the USS Augusta (CA 31) took part in the Normandy invasion. Closing on the shore on 6 June, the heavy cruiser commenced firing at 0618, hurling 51 rounds from her main battery at shore installations in support of the landings.

USS Augusta (CA-31)

Elmer Jensen of South River, NJ was a helmsman on the USS Augusta. He watched through his binoculars as American troops were storming and dieing on Omaha Beach and the cliffs they tried to scale... Meanwhile, he said "The guns on the Augusta fired so often and so fast that the paint on the hull blistered from the heat."