As the sun rose over Edgefield County on the morning of June 6, 1944, residents awoke to the familiar warmth of a South Carolina summer, unaware that a local son was among the first wave of soldiers landing on D-Day. While life carried on quietly in the rural towns and farmland of Edgefield, 26-year-old U.S. Army Sergeant James “JL” Doolittle was wading through surf and a storm of bullets with no cover and little chance of survival.

"Boys," the chaplain said, "There's not much hope for you. Your officers predict 148 out of 150 of you will be killed. You'll be first to clear the water of mines and barbed wire for others to follow. You're looking right down the barrel of death. If you ain't right with God, get right now." Sgt. Doolittle said later, “I'll always be grateful for that chaplain for telling us the truth."

Sgt. Doolittle got to the beach before then. He led his unit off the landing craft when the sergeant who was in charge broke down and couldn't function. Doolittle's life jacket and uniform were torn to shreds by German bullets. But he survived to lead his men up the cliffs to annihilate enemy strongholds that had rained death and destruction upon his comrades in arms. That night, Sgt. Doolittle was able to get some rest in an enemy foxhole. A couple of days later, he came upon a crashed Army troop glider aircraft. The pilot was hanging upside down in the mangled craft. He recognized the pilot who was also from Edgefield. It was Strom Thurmond, an Edgefield County judge who at 41 years of age had taken leave to fight in the war. Coming to, he said, “Jimmy is that you?” “Yeah, I’m here,” said Doolittle.

Sgt. Doolittle had survived a front row seat to the largest amphibious assault in history, despite being wounded four times. Twenty-five hundred of his countrymen did not. Only two others in his unit made it through the war. "For some reason unknown to me," Doolittle said, "the good Lord allowed me to come home to Edgefield. I don't consider myself a hero. None of us did. We just did our job the best we could for our country." Doolittle passed on in 2020 at 102 years of age.

The personal account of Sgt. Doolittle’s World War II experiences was chronicled in the book I Was First on D-Day. Reverend Dan White, former pastor of Red Oak Grove Baptist Church in Modoc, South Carolina, interviewed Doolittle and went on to author and self-publish the book. Copies are available at American Legion Post 30. For more information, contact alpost30sc@gmail.com.