Answer Close-Reading Questions
Have students write their responses, or use the Close-Reading Questions to guide a discussion.
• What was D-Day? Why was it important? (Central Ideas)
D-Day was one of the largest invasions in history. It took place on June 6, 1944. Nazi Germany had taken control of most of Europe. On D-Day, more than 150,000 U.S., British, and Canadian soldiers landed at Normandy in northern France to fight the Axis powers. The successful invasion was a turning point in the war. It enabled Allied troops to move farther inland and free Europe.
• What details about D-Day does Frank DeVita share that only a person who was there could provide? (Key Details)
DeVita tells what it was like to have bullets swarming around his head and to hear people screaming and crying. He also shares what he was thinking and feeling at the time, noting that he was scared but kept deciding to go back into the enemy fire to ferry more soldiers.
• Choose one of the other eyewitness accounts to analyze. What details stand out? How does it help you understand D-Day? (Primary Sources)
Sample response: In Martha Gellhorn’s account, one detail that stands out is that wounded soldiers’ “shoes had to be cut off.” That helps me understand the urgency on the hospital ship. Another memorable detail is “a mouth that just showed through bandages.” That shows how serious some of the casualties were. Gellhorn’s account also reveals that American women had fewer opportunities in the 1940s than they do today.