The first American on the beach at D-Day served through the Vietnam War
On the night of June 5, 1944, Capt. Schroeder was out of the hospital and boarding the USS Barnett with his troops for D-Day.
By Team Mighty
Updated On Jun 6, 2024 9:06 AM PDT
D-Day
Leonard Schroeder trained his whole career for that moment on D-Day. A native of Linthicum Heights, Maryland, he attended the University of Maryland with a ROTC scholarship, graduating in June 1941. He became an Army officer at just 22 years old.
When the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor that December, Schroeder was sent to the 4th Infantry Division at what was then-called Camp Gordon in Georgia. He would spend the next year and half training with his infantry unit, then another six months training in amphibious landings in Florida.
By January 1944, he was 25 years old and in command of the 219 men from Company F of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. They boarded a ship bound for England, where they would await orders to invade continental Europe and liberate France from the Nazi jackboot.
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