Local veteran remembers D-Day

GULF SHORES, Ala. - On July 13, 1945, General George Patton stated of the U.S. Army's 90th Division, "You are the best soldiers in the world. It was a great honor to command you."

That Division invaded Utah Beach on June 6, 1944.

"We didn't know what we'd be facing when we got there," said Andrew Cooper, a Gulf Shores resident who stormed Normandy. "We knew we'd be going to war. We wanted to go ahead and, not anxious to go to war, but anxious to get it over with and get home."

D-Day is the largest sea-born invasion in history. 160-thousand Allied troops stormed the beach at Normandy. 88-year-old Andrew Cooper was there for it all.

"I just thank God that I'm here, when so many of my dear, dear friends did not make it," he said.

Cooper was just 23-years-old at the time, but he always knew he would be a military man. He still remembers the day he was told he was heading to France.

"We were glad to know where we were going, but it was somewhat of a surprise, but at the same time, we wanted to go ahead and get mission accomplished."

Cooper served the country for three years, compiling a fair share of medals and metals, including a bullet. The purple-heart recipient was hit with shrapnel, as well as shot by a German sniper.

"I had surgery, remained in the hospital until the latter part of November, went back to my same outfit, stayed until March - through the Belgium Bulge, and even into Germany through the sacred line."

Cooper has lived in Gulf Shores since 1973. He looks back at his military service very fondly. Despite the fact he hates war, the answer is obvious whether he'd do it again.

"I do not regret one day of it. I just had to go through it again, but if I had to, I would. of course."

With that type of attitude 65 years later, it's no wonder General Patton was honored.

Cooper said the moment the mission was accomplished, was one that was difficult to describe.