James is stunned by the sudden deaths of four men, including his commanding officer: “The way Major MacLeod and the others had been there one moment and then just - just obliterated the next chilled James to the bone. What kind of invasion was this? Who had decided they should come ashore in broad daylight, into the teeth of the German guns? … This had to be the worst invasion in history.” On Omaha Beach, Dee is shocked by the deadly disorganization of the battle: “This was madness. Gratz quickly brings his characters to life - using details such as a family story, a fight against discrimination, or even a forgotten bathing suit - and then skillfully weaves their narratives together into a captivating, distinctly personal and multidimensional view of this complicated event. His depictions of the carnage and destruction of war are sensitive and matter-of-fact. She was the only American woman on the beach that day.) (Dorothy is based on real-life journalist Martha Gellhorn, who famously disguised herself as a soldier and came ashore with a medical crew. She hides until the fighting is over and then meets Dorothy, an American war reporter, and together they give first aid to the wounded. She cycles to the beach early in the morning to retrieve a forgotten bathing suit, only to find that war has broken out. The youngest of the main characters, Monique, is only 13 and lives nearby. On Omaha Beach, he treats whoever needs help, no matter the color of their skin. Instead he trains as a medic and joins the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a segregated unit. Army’s Officer Candidate School, only to find that no positions as an officer are open to him because he is black. Twenty-year-old Chicago native Henry graduates from the U.S. Bill hopes to get the chance to carve his own name beneath his father’s.

James, a 19-year-old Canadian paratrooper, enlists after his hometown stages a citywide mock Nazi invasion it calls “If Day.” Complete with military aircraft, actors in rented costumes, mock arrests and book burnings (of worn-out library books), the day is meant to encourage empathy for the plight of Europe under Nazi occupation.īill is a 19-year-old English tank operator, whose father fought in World War I and left his name carved into a rock in the city of Amiens, France. But Samira’s family members are subject to discrimination in France because they are natives of Algeria, a French colony that longs for its independence. Eleven-year-old Samira and her mother are members of the French Resistance, brave patriots who disrupt Nazi operations by any means available - from carrying secret messages to cutting communication lines, derailing transport trains and blowing up bridges.

Gratz allies