A Salute To North Reading Vets Who Were There On June 6, 1944

READING, Ma. - He was just 18 years old on June 6, 1944, a Woburn teen dropped in the middle of the largest military invasion in history. Now a North Reading resident, Jack Swymer was honored Thursday along with Reading's Arthur Hubbard and North Reading's Al Azjian, survivors of World War II and that day on the beaches of Normandy 75 years ago.

Officially, it was the monthly meeting of the Reading Scuttlebutts, a group of veterans who get together to share stories and remember. But on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the normal attendance of about 25 veterans ballooned to ... let's just say the room at the Pleasant Street Center was packed.

In addition to the usual attendees, Thursday brought town and state leaders to Pleasant Street including State Senator Jason Lewis, House Minority Leader Brad Jones, State Representative Rich Haggerty, and Francisco Urena, Secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Veteran Services, who also served eight years in the Marines.

Reading's Veteran's Services Office Kevin Bohmiller started the event by recognizing Roy Sherrod, class of '42 at Reading Memorial High School. Sherrod was killed in action 75 years ago and is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery.

Bohmiller also said Azjian wasn't able to attend the event but his efforts as a Navy Signalman working on a Liberty Ship were applauded.

Then it was time to hear from Swymer and Hubbard, two men who hadn't met until Thursday.

Swymer, 93, was a motor machinist mate and part of a team responsible for bringing heavy equipment to the beach. Swymer's job was to lower the landing ramp once they made the beach. The first attempt didn't go well. Instead of the beach, the transport hit a sandbar and when they unloaded a jeep, it sank. And then there was the enemy fire.

"They opened up machine gun fire. Some of the troops, as soon as they got off they were hit," said Swymer, choking up on the memory. "No one stopped. They just went. We were under fire most of the day."

Swymer, who along with his wife Ruth raised their family in Reading, also remembers the noise.

"We didn't stop for a day and a half. The noise got to you after a while," said Swymer, who said much of it came from the guns of the battleship USS Texas. "That was going on all day."

Now 95, Hubbard left from New York harbor bound for England aboard the Queen Mary on December 23, 1943. He was a machine gunner with the 110th AAA gun battalion. He landed on Omaha Beach and was part of liberating Paris and participated in the Battle of the Bulge. He was on his way to Stuttgart, Germany when the war ended.

One of his first tasks was to help find an advance scout, a task far more difficult than it sounds.

"With the bodies and such, it was hard to identify the victims," said Hubbard, of the day that claimed more than 4,000 American lives.

Swymer ended his talk with the words, "That's about it." Hubbard concluded with, "So, here I am." Both summaries downplayed what both men went through 75 years ago, what they saw, and the friends they lost.

In addition to certificates from the state, Urena presented both men Challenge Coins in recognition of their service as well as a D-Day 75th anniversary commemorative pin. It was thanks neither asked for. But the scuttlebutt was, they certainly deserved it.