Army veteran and D-Day hero Sgt. Maj. Robert Blatnik dead at 100
Sgt. Maj. Robert Blatnik died on Saturday
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Army veteran from Texas who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day with 900 men under his command has died at the age of 100.
Sgt. Maj. Robert Blatnik died Saturday, according to CBS 11 Dallas.
Blatnik was 93 when he returned in 2013 to Omaha Beach stopping at the exact spot where he landed on June 6, 1944, the station reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Robert Blatnik at the age of 89, when he took part in competition with nearly 700 military veterans age 55 or older at the National Veterans Golden Age Games. Blatnik won gold medals in shuffleboard, swimming, discus and shot put competitions. (U.S. Army)
“Oh dear Father thank you for having saved my life,” he said as he got down on his hands and knees on the hallowed ground.
ON SAD ANNIVERSARY, FEW TO MOURN THE D-DAY DEAD IN NORMANDY
He offered more prayers for those who lost their lives that day, including more than 500 of his men.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"On the beach, the artillery and smoke were everywhere," Blatnik said in 2009 in a write-up on the U.S. Army website. "It was chaos all around us. I didn't even see any small arms fire from the Germans, just bodies and bombs going off everywhere."
Blatnik, who served under Gen. George S. Patton, in the 1st Infantry Division, nicknamed "Big Red One," said his experience helped keep him alive.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I knew that the main thing to do was to get off the beach,” he said. “Some of the men wanted to dig in. When you're on a beach the main thing to do is confront the enemy. You can't dig in during something like that; you've go to get the hell off the beach. If you try to dig in you're lost, so I tried to keep my men moving forward."