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Friends, family, and supporters of U.S. Army World War II veteran Curtis Outen, a former infantryman with the 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, joined him to celebrate his 102nd birthday on Sept. 16, 2023.
Throughout the celebration, Outen recounted his service during D-Day.
“I got scared when I was climbing down that rope ladder,” recalled Outen. “I knew that was going to be it.”
Outen was born on Sept. 16, 1921, in Pageland, South Carolina. His father had owned approximately 200 acres of farmland, and many of Outen’s days growing up were spent tending to the crops. He referred to himself as a “country boy.”
Outen was drafted into the U.S. Army on his 21st birthday in 1942. He shipped to Camp Bullis, Texas, better known as rattlesnake country, where he completed basic combat training. He then moved on to complete numerous additional activities that would prepare him for the battle he would soon face.
“We left England on the third [June]. I remember hearing a recording of Eisenhower telling us we were going to the beach of Omaha,” recalled Outen.
American, British, and Canadian allied forces commanded a battle against German forces on June 6, 1944, during World War II, on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. Better known as the Battle of Normandy, or D-Day, more than 130,000 allied forces breached the enemy front in Normandy in what marked the largest amphibious warfare operation in history.
Outen still remembers the trek across the English Channel aboard a vessel on the second fleet heading for Omaha Beach.
“A bunch of other ships got sunk; there was a ship about 100 feet from our ship that hit a mine,” said Outen.
There were over 100 passengers aboard that ship, and only about 20 made it out alive, he continued to explain. As they approached landfall, they were met with enemy artillery fire and bullets.
“We were coming down the rope ladder and could hear the water splashing; that was the enemy firing at us,” said Outen. “When we got off, I heard ‘let’s go!’ and we made the charge.”
Outen said that he was struck by a piece of German shrapnel that ripped his pants during the charge, “I wore those britches for about a month.”
As they made the charge, Outen’s company encountered German coastal defenses such as log posts and ramps affixed with mines and 5-foot-tall steel hedgehogs. As they traversed the enemy’s strong points, they were met with concertina wire that they would low crawl under while under continuous fire.
“I got through that crawl like a rat,” said Outen. “I went to a field hospital after, and a Major told me I had enough and decided to put me down in Cherbourg to recuperate.”
Curtis would return home after seeing three battles and was discharged on Dec. 13, 1945, from Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty). Outen received numerous military service medals, including the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and a Bronze Star.
“You see things like that, you just say ‘thank the good Lord,’” said Outen.
He later moved to Charlotte, where he spent a year tending to six acres of land on his father’s farm before moving to his house on Richmond Dr., where he celebrates his birthday 47 years later.
During Outen’s birthday celebration, his son, U.S. Army Vietnam veteran Donald Outen, a former field artillery intelligence Soldier with the 34th Field Artillery Battalion, 9th Infantry Division, sat close to his father’s side.
Donald’s interest in enlisting was partly due to his father’s service, and he would go on to serve two tours overseas for 18 months.
“I just wanted to see what the Army was like,” said Donald.
Curtis would go on to retire after 39 years of service as a bus driver for the Charlotte Area Transit System. Shortly after Donald was discharged from active duty, he joined his father as a CATS bus driver, where he would also retire after more than 20 years of service.
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2023 19:23 |
| Story ID: | 454144 |
| Location: | CHARLOTTE, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 162 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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