'When you are one of the few who are left': A World War II vet recalls D-Day and those who died for freedom

At 101, Gene Kleindl has some long-established routines:

He likes to grab an occasional late lunch at Uncle John’s Pancake House: Three Swedish pancakes with lingonberry sauce.

Unless the heat gets too oppressive, he usually wears his original World War II Eisenhower jacket, complete with combat medals and the distinctive patch of the unit with which he landed on Utah Beach: the 90^th Infantry Division.

And as often as possible, he travels back to Normandy, where he served as an Army medic in the most iconic military operation in modern history.

"You gotta keep busy," Kleindl says simply.

At the beginning of June, this remarkable veteran will return to France for the 80^th anniversary of D-Day. It will be his third trip in the last five years alone.

Kleindl, who lives on an acreage just outside Rockford, has made dear friends with several French families and prominent Normandy historians. His trips allow him to revisit all the places he sees daily, in his mind's eye: the old stone building where he set up an aid station to treat the wounded, the creek where seven beleaguered German soldiers surrendered to him.

"I remember crossing the English Channel in that Higgins boat, approaching the coastline," he said. "I think about that still — how young we were, how we didn’t know enough to even be scared."

At the beginning of June, the U.S. Army will host more than 100 events in Normandy to commemorate the start of the arduous campaign to wrest Europe from the tyranny of Nazi occupation. Tens of thousands of visitors will flood the bucolic countryside and historic beaches. Among them will be Kleindl and about 130 other veterans from that conflict.

Sadly, it will likely be the last major anniversary where so many heroes like Kleindl join us in France. Of the more than 16 million Americans who served in World War II, only slightly more than 100,000 are still living.

The unit I serve in today, First Army, commanded all ground and airborne forces during the D-Day invasion, and I will be leading a group of our soldiers back to Normandy to honor our history and lineage. It has been with awe that we've learned the stories of the veterans who will attend.

Kleindl enlisted shortly after Pearl Harbor for two simple reasons: to protect his country and to protect his brother.

"My older brother, who was very special to me, had gotten drafted into the infantry," he remembers. "I thought, ‘The infantry — the front lines — is exactly where we don’t need to be. All he was thinking was, 'That’s where the action is.' I was thinking: 'Someone’s got to watch that daredevil.' "

The 90^th Infantry Division landed at Utah Beach. It didn’t go smoothly. One troop ship sank on approach; all soldiers survived but a significant amount of their weaponry didn’t. Almost immediately, the division was stymied in heavy fighting. Kleindl’s battalion suffered 129 casualties by the end of the first day. By July 11, the division had lost 5,000 men. For a young, untested medic, it was baptism by fire.

"I started carrying a pistol, even though medics weren’t supposed to," Kleindl said. "And I learned you can dig a foxhole awfully fast when you need to."

Twice, as he treated his wounded men, Kleindl was notified his brother had been injured. He rushed to try to help him, but he'd already been moved to the rear. Kleindl vividly remembers meeting his brother after he'd been returned to duty.

"I shook his hand, and he didn’t have any grip left at all," he says, shaking his head. "Like it was a different guy."

Despite its rough start, the 90^th Infantry Division later would be lauded by First Army and the commanding general, Omar Bradley, as one of the "finest" combat units on the Allied front. It would go on to help close the Falaise Gap. It fought in the battles in Metz, the Bulge and the Ardennes. The 90th smashed through the Siegfried Line and had just crossed the Czech border when troops encountered a sight that haunts Kleindl still.

"The Flossenbürg concentration camp," he says, describing the nearly 1,500 starving prisoners they liberated. "Oh, those poor souls."

A week later, the war was over.

Like so many of his generation, Kleindl returned and picked up where he left off. He attended college and opened a printing business near Rockford. He married the love of his life, JoAnn, and began a family. He always lived close to the brother who served in the 90th. They attended unit reunions until most of the guys were gone. Now he returns to Normandy to keep their memories alive.

"When you are one of the few who are left, it’s up to you to remember those who did so much," Kleindl says simply.

The soldiers of First Army look forward to seeing Kleindl in Normandy, and we make him a solemn promise: We will never forget.

(Editor's note: 405,399 Americans died in World War II; another 670,846 were wounded.)

Maj. Gen. William A. Ryan is the acting commander of First Army, headquartered at Rock Island Arsenal.