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D-Day, June 6, 1944, shortly after midnight, somewhere in England...

Having been deployed to England with no definite word of what to expect, Arnold lay on his cot in a tent trying to sleep. The sounds of the aircraft were loud and low. There was no sleep to be had. He tossed and turned and put his pillow over his head to try to drown out the noise. The aircraft were flying so low he thought the planes were going to come through his tent. His tent-mate was having the same problem and so were the occupants of tents all over the compound. But no one knew what was happening. There would be periods of silence and sleep would almost come before the next wave of aircraft began their journey. This lasted all night so when morning came the 339th Replacement Company was a tired group of soldiers. When the bugle sounded they fell out in formation but there was no mention of the events of the night. Later in the day they learned that they had been "ear witnesses" to the invasion of France by the United States. The aircraft they heard were the bombers flying into France to announce that the United States had joined World War II. 1300 British aircraft followed by 1000 American aircraft bombed targets in France. These were the pre-invasion attacks followed just before dawn by the thousands of troops landing on the beaches of Normandy. 6 weeks later Arnold was walking up Omaha Beach to his new assignment to serve his country in World War II.