The story behind the story: How a Pa. man ended up in iconic D-Day+1 photo
Members of an American landing unit help their exhausted comrades ashore during the Normandy invasion on June 7, 1944. Nick Russin is pictured in the center being dragged onto shore. (Louis Weintraub/INP Pool/The Associated Press)
(Harrisburg) — An iconic photo taken during the invasion of Normandy shows an American soldier being dragged out of the English Channel to safety.
It has appeared in countless history books, commemorative magazines and documentaries.
But the men in the image are rarely, if ever, identified.
It turns out the balding, water logged man was from Butler County, Pennsylvania.
WITF’s Fred Vigeant talks with News Director Tim Lambert, who has chronicled the story of how he defied death — not once, not twice, but three times.
The story features several videos — including the film of the rescue and a historian visits the spot on Omaha beach where Russin was pulled out of the water and provides some context on what it was like the first few days of the invasion.
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