samuel chase." it was in five invasions and as so often happened, on that day, 70 years ago he was reassigned at the last minute. he was a gunner's mate on the ship and he was told he was going to go into a higgins boat and make the landing, and he would be up front at the ramp. he couldn't come back here for a long time because it was just too painful, the memories of all that he'd gone through. he lost his wife, and then 30 members of his family said "dad we're going back" and i must say i've met a lot of these families, this one was in the top tier. they were so supportive they had complete understanding of what he'd been through and frank as well was able to articulate what it was like to be a young man that day, and we'd like to share that with you now. ♪ >> on june 6th, 1944 we made the invasion of hitler's europe.