First Americans

douglas9

(5,477 posts) Fri Dec 5, 2025, 06:31 AM Dec 5

Charles Norman Shay, Tribal Elder and World War II Hero, Dies at 101

Charles Norman Shay, who as a 19-year-old medic on D-Day repeatedly saved soldiers from drowning off Omaha Beach, turning them on their backs, dragging them ashore and binding their wounds, died on Wednesday at his home in Thue et Mue, France, near the site of the Normandy invasion. He was 101.

His death was announced by a group that supports the Charles N. Shay Indian Memorial, a monument on Omaha Beach to Native American soldiers who landed there on June 6, 1944.

Mr. Shay, a member of the Penobscot Nation of Maine, was one of about 175 Native Americans among the 34,000 Allied troops who came ashore on that beach, into the teeth of some of the bloodiest fighting of D-Day in the opening act of the liberation of France during World War II.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/us/politics/charles-norman-shay-dead.html

12 replies

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Charles Norman Shay, Tribal Elder and World War II Hero, Dies at 101 (Original Post) douglas9 Dec 5 OP

... 2naSalit Dec 5 #1

D-Day vet who moved to Normandy in final years dies at 101 douglas9 Dec 5 #2

From your link........ KS Toronado Dec 5 #6

Can't imagine the courage it took to stop and save lives in the face of slaughter 70sEraVet Dec 5 #3

I'm sure Kegsbreath... ybbor Dec 5 #4

And there you have it. Hidden at the bottom of the obit,- he was captured and a p.o.w. for a month. 3Hotdogs Dec 5 #5

His poor Mom... Kid Berwyn Dec 5 #7

Thank You for sharing that Martin Eden Dec 5 #8

Imagine looking out at this scene of carnage and thinking "I've got to save as many as I can"... FailureToCommunicate Dec 5 #9

May he rest in peace..an American hero. mountain grammy Dec 5 #10

Hero MustLoveBeagles Dec 5 #11

💛🌾 quaint Dec 5 #12

2naSalit

(99,705 posts)

1. ...

Reply to douglas9 (Original post)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 07:24 AM

Dec 5

douglas9

(5,477 posts)

2. D-Day vet who moved to Normandy in final years dies at 101

Reply to douglas9 (Original post)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 08:02 AM

Dec 5

As a teenager from the Penobscot Indian Nation in Maine, Charles Norman Shay pulled drowning troops to shore on Omaha Beach, earning a Silver Star as a medic on one of World War II’s defining days. In his final decade of life, he lived in a small Normandy town just miles from that shoreline, sharing his story with tourists and American troops who visited the hallowed beach. A statue of Shay now stands above the sands, part of a memorial to Native American soldiers who fought in the landings.

Shay, 101, died Wednesday in his home in Thue et Mue, France, just outside of Caen, about 30 miles from Omaha Beach. He was believed to be the last of roughly 500 Native American soldiers who came ashore in the June 6, 1944 landings, including as many as 175 on Omaha Beach, according to some Native American researchers. His company landed far from their assigned zone, directly in front of two German machine gun positions.

“My concern was to get to the beach. I was thinking about survival. I began treating the men on the beach who had made it,” he told a Library of Congress interviewer in 2017.

Naval gunfire and an assault by fellow soldiers took out the machine guns, Shay said, as he tended to wounded soldiers. As the tide began to come in, he looked back and saw troops struggling in the water.

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/d-day-vet-normandy-native-dies/

KS Toronado

(22,892 posts)

6. From your link........

Reply to douglas9 (Reply #2)

Fri Dec 5, 2025, 08:46 AM

Dec 5

“I saw there was many men in the water who were floundering, and I knew if no one went to help them they would die,” Shay said. “I proceeded back in the water to get as many out as I could by turning them over on their backs and grabbing them by their shoulders. I don’t know where my strength came from. But once the adrenaline starts flowing in your body, you can do unbelievable feats of strength. I guess that’s what happened to me.”

He remained on the frontlines for almost a year, including combat in the Battle of the Bulge, until he was captured and spent nearly a month in a German prison camp, before being liberated in the war’s final days.

When he arrived home on the Penobscot Nation, he knocked on his parents’ door, which was answered by his mother — whose only word on her son’s fate to that moment had been a letter from the Army months earlier that he was “missing in action.”

Charles Shay Indian Memorial overlooking Omaha Beach, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, Calvados, Normandy, France Photo by Philippe Clément/Getty.