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Category: WWII – Dday

Books on Maine people 1

Project Omaha Beach: The Life and Military Service of a Penobscot Indian Elder

Book by Charles Norman Shay In 2007 Charles Norman Shay went to Washington, DC, to receive the Legion of Honor medal from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The medal has joined the others bestowed on him, including a Silver Star and four bronze battle stars from World War II and the Korean War, in his home on the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation in Old Town, Maine. As a young Army medic he had been in the famed 1st Infantry Division that landed in the first wave on Omaha Beach, Normandy. He does not recall how many men he pulled from the water while bullets were streaming past him. “We’ve all had our individual experiences, and none are more dramatic than the next,” said […]

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History 0

Princess Watahwaso’s teepe, an Indian Island landmark, preserved by D-Day Medal of honor recipient Charles Norman Shay

In Charles Shay’s book, Project Omaha Beach, he recounts his Maine Indian Heritage as well as war experiences. The following article and photos appeared in the BDN, By Robert F. Bukaty, May 23, 2014: You can’t help but notice the large red and white wooden teepee just after you cross the bridge over the Penobscot River onto Indian Island. It’s […]

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WWII - Dday 0

Project Omaha Beach: The Life and Military Service of a Penobscot Indian Elder by Charles Shay

In 2007 Charles Norman Shay went to Washington, DC, to receive the Legion of Honor medal from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The medal has joined the others bestowed on him, including a Silver Star and four bronze battle stars from World War II and the Korean War, in his home on the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation in Old Town, Maine. As a young Army medic he had been in the famed 1st Infantry Division that landed in the first wave on Omaha Beach, Normandy. He does not recall how many men he pulled from the water while bullets were streaming past him. “We’ve all had our individual experiences, and none are more dramatic than the next,” said Shay, characteristically modest. […]

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