That’s quite a story about 91-year-old Winthrop resident Ernest Deeb Sr., and the incredible work he did in service to our country on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
Deeb was only 19 years old at the time when he was fighting for our country’s future. It was a bloody, tough battle, but he stood tall in his service with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In the midst of a furious fight, Deeb and his battalion built bridges and roads as enemy weapons fire and bombs roared from overhead.
Mr. Deeb has vivid memories of those battles and the daily struggle to assist the American troops under the direction of the famous General George Patton Jr. For those of us who were not there, It is hard even to imagine what our brave troops were thinking on that day as they approached the beaches of Normandy on their landing craft. Movies from The Longest Day (in 1964) to Saving Private Ryan (in 1999) have attempted to portray what it was like to hit the beach on D-Day in the face of the German defenses, but dramatizations can only go so far. Suffice to say that an amphibious landing of that sort never would even be contemplated by today’s generals, knowing that they might be sending thousands of brave young men to certain death under even the best of circumstances.
We are so grateful to Mr. Deeb for all his service and how his efforts helped our country emerge from the war with a great triumph. Mr. Deeb returned home a hero and served in the Boston Fire Department, where he gallantly fought fires and rescued people from unsafe situations.
Thank you, Mr. Deeb, for sharing your story with us.