TAMPA, Fla. — Thursday marked 80 years since hundreds of thousands of soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. The battle became a turning point in WWII.
Some of those who stormed the beaches of Normandy and gave their lives that fateful day and in the operations that followed are from right here in Tampa Bay.
Now, Alfred Goldberg of Tampa is doing what he can to ensure we all know the names of those who died that day. He is collecting their stories day by day.
So far, he has uncovered that four men from Hillsborough County died in the D-Day invasion: Sgt. Murray B. Roberts, Pvt. James M. Owen, Pvt. First Class George Cruz, and seaman Charles Umstead.
"This is First Lieutenant Murray Roberts here, his father was a local minister," said Goldberg, showcasing a photo of Roberts. "He went to Memorial Junior High School, then Hillsborough High School. He was in the paper a lot for church-related things. He was in the 101st airborne, 506 parachute infantry regiment, Easy Company. You may know Easy Company from 'Band of Brothers.'"
Showcasing a second photo, Goldberg explained, "This is Private James Owen. He grew up in Seminole Heights and his house is still standing. He attended the Academy of Holy Names and, ultimately, he graduated from Hillsborough High School. He was also a Parachute Infantry Regiment soldier, but he was with a different division."
"It was a very foggy night. It was a midnight job, and a lot of the soldiers and, unfortunately, James Owen was one of them, found himself parachuting into the water. So, he perished in the jump."
Goldberg is the President of Tampa Sister Cities and the son of a WWII veteran. In his role with Tampa Sister Cities, he was invited to join Mayor Castor and city commissioners and councilmembers to Normandy last year. In anticipation of that trip, he began his research.
For Goldberg, it was important to know how they lived their lives as well as how they died.
"I thought, 'What can I do?' Provide some sort of service to these soldiers and at the same time for the community to get a better understanding of the sacrifice of these soldiers," Goldberg said. "And I felt by telling their stories, not just how they died, but how they lived, I could really create those connections."
That research transported him more than 80 years into the past. He used ancestry.com, newspapers.com, looked through school yearbooks and reviewed records written by other servicemembers.
"I'd read memoirs from soldiers who served in that company, and quite often you'd come across some sort of testimonial or some sort of memory involving one of our soldiers," Goldberg said.
Through his meticulous work, he aims to ensure our region's history isn't lost.
"George Carlos Cruz was a farm laborer in the Dover or Plant City area. He died in the storming of the beaches," Goldberg said. "And, to the best of my knowledge and my research, he is the only D-day casualty buried in Hillsborough County."
Recently, he went to visit his gravesite.
"We cleaned it up, left some flowers, and I'm discovering a lot of people were not aware that this young man was buried here in Hillsborough County," Goldberg said. "It's always important to remember the sacrifice made by these soldiers."
Alfred Goldberg said his research is far from complete, and he encourages anyone with stories of their Tampa Bay relatives who fought in or died on D-day to reach out to him. You can email him at: president@tampasistercities.org