Tuesday will mark the 79th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy by Allied forces during World War II, often referred to as D-Day.

Employing more than 156,000 American, British and Canadian troops, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history, was the beginning of the liberation of France and laid the foundation for the Allied victory on the Western Front.

When many people think about D-Day, the invasion of Omaha Beach (with its 2,400 American casualties) is often what they think of, but the operation actually took place on five different beaches, one of which was Utah Beach, where now 98-year-old Greenville resident Bill Caldwell was serving in the U.S. Navy as a signalman.

Caldwell submitted the following account of his ship making its way from Plymouth, England, to the waters of Normandy:

“On June 4, the troops boarded our ship at Plymouth, England, and were sailed on the LCIs (landing craft infantry). Due to security, everything was locked down. We were not allowed to get off the ship, and dockworkers were not allowed onboard.

“We were scheduled to set sail on June 4, but it was called off due to bad weather. After a one-day delay, we set sail on June 5, arriving at Utah Beach early in the morning on June 6. We were at the assembly area at 3 a.m.

“Utah Beach was a different beach than Omaha Beach. The most significant danger on Utah Beach was the underwater mines. To reduce the risk of getting sunk by a mine, we unloaded our troops to smaller boats. These boats transported troops the rest of the way to Utah Beach. Despite these precautions, several naval ships struck mines offshore. One of the LCIs struck a mine and sunk.

“Like Sicily, Salerno and Anzio, I was stationed on the bridge, watching all the action. In Normandy, I had to be on the look out for mines. I didn’t see it all, but I saw a lot.

“As a final act, we again loaded our ship with troops and carried them to Plymouth, England, but these soldiers were (German and Italian) prisoners of war. Their war was over.

“In 2014, the French government presented me with the French Legion of Honor medal, their highest award, just because I was there.”

Over the decades since his service during World War II, Caldwell has given interviews for several books and museum exhibits. While Caldwell simply enjoys sharing his story with younger generations, he also occasionally receives “fan mail” from people who learned a lot after reading or listening to his words.

“Reading about history is awesome. When I went to the special operations museum (in Fayetteville, North Carolina) and later I heard you talking about pushing the Nazis ‘up and out,’ my reaction was, ‘Wow. He was actually there,’” a 10-year-old girl named Emma Yip wrote to him in 2019.

“You say you’re not a hero, but you are one in my eyes. Thank you for serving our country.”

In addition to being a World War II Navy veteran, Caldwell also served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Later, he later worked for Temco/LTV (now L3Harris) for much of the Cold War-era, during which he worked on several top-secret military aircraft contracts.

Herald-Banner Sports Editor

He’s won more playoff games in the Greenville High School gymnasium than any high school basketball coach.

He’s also a former Greenville Lion basketball player who once held the single-season assist record.

The new Greenville Lions basketball coach Jeff Smith won’t be a stranger to the Lions Den or to the local community. He was a player for the Lions in the seasons 1979-81 under head coach Lee Leonard and has coached basketball teams all around the local area, including at Lone Oak, Caddo Mills, Leonard and Celeste.

He’s taking over the head job from Chris Williams, who led the Lions to a tie for third place in the District 13-5A standings this past season. Williams stepped down as he has become an assistant principal at GHS.

“He’s coming back,” said Lions athletic director Darren Duke. “I’ve known Coach Smith for a long time. I’ve had an opportunity to bring him back. I think it’ll be a good fit for us.”

Smith coached 25-8 Celeste to the Region II-2A finals in 2022, where they lost to eventual state champion Lipan.

He also coached the Blue Devils to several trips to the region tournament and was on the Celeste coaching staff when the Blue Devils made two trips to the state finals in football.

He also coached the Caddo Mills basketball team to a state ranking and the Leonard Tigers to some playoff appearances.

Smith last coached at Gilmer, leading the Buckeyes to a playoff spot in 2023, one season after they went winless in district play before he took over the program.

He eclipsed the 500-win mark for his career in 2018 when the Celeste Blue Devils beat Dallas Gateway 65-51 in a bi-district playoff in the Greenville gym.

Duke said Smith’s success with basketball teams “speaks for itself.”

“His teams play hard and compete.”

The Lions have also made some changes in the football coaching staff.

Bret Alexander is stepping down as the Lions’ offensive coordinator. He’s retiring and heading into the real estate business.

Alexander previously coached with Duke at Dallas Conrad and was a head coach for two seasons at Wichita Falls Hirschi.

“We’ve been together for 10 years,” said Duke.

Alexander also handled some of the public address announcing at Lions’ home basketball and baseball games.

Duke said Alexander related well “to the kids.”

“He was hard on them but he loved them,” said Duke.

Duke said he considers Alexander “a personal friend” and will really miss him.

Alexander was the offensive coordinator for a Greenville Lions’ team that averaged 341.8 yards per game this season, scoring 36 touchdowns.

Micah Simpson, who played quarterback, running back and wide receiver on offense, ran for 1,472 yards and 21 touchdowns, passed for 555 yards and five scores and caught eight passes for 115 yards.

Duke is splitting up the offensive coordinator duties between assistant coaches T.K. Harris and Blaine Roman. Harris served as the Lady Lions’ head track coach this season and Roman has been a head and assistant coach for the baseball team.

George Sellers will remain as the Lions’ defensive coordinator.

The Lions wrapped up three weeks of spring training with their Red-White game last week. The Red team won 21-7 in a game that featured some big plays on special teams.

Nearly 2,000 athletes from more than 25 track clubs will be competing this week in Greenville for spots at the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation state track and field championships.

The TAAF Region 7 meet is scheduled for Thursday through Saturday at T.A. “Cotton” Ford Stadium with athletes from ages 6 and under up to 18 and under. They’re competing for five berths in each event for the TAAF state track and field championships on July 27-29 in Brownsville.

Gervie Stone, an athletic specialist with the Greenville Parks and Recreation Department, is serving as the meet director.

The track clubs that will be represented include the M&M Track Club of Greenville, plus others from Wolfe City, Irving, Frisco, Plano, Denison, Sherman, Van Alstyne, Anna, Garland, Forney, Kaufman, McKinney and Wylie, among others.

The first field events are to start at 4 p.m. on Thursday with the triple jump and pole vault for boys and girls in the 14-and-under, 16U and 18U divisions.

The 3200-meter run is to start at 6 p.m. Thursday for 14U, 16U and 18U and then the 1600 for 10U and 12U.

The meet continues at 8:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Greenville’s M&M club will have up to 90 competitors. M&M coach Junior Mason, who is in his 26th year with the team, said the team looks strongest in the 10U boys 4x100 and 4x400 relays, the 12U girls 4x100 and 4x400 and the 14u girls 4x100 and 4x400.

High temperatures are forecasted for the Greenville area with highs close to 100 degrees on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The temperatures on the track will be much higher.

“I’ve been telling them (M&M athletes) to drink water, to drink water, to drink water,” said Mason.

Mason said he’s been giving the M&M athletes plenty of water breaks in practice.

“Not only do you have to be fast, you have to be smart,” he said.

TAAF Region 7

Track and Field Meet

T.A. “Cotton” Ford Stadium, Greenville

Thursday’s schedule

5 p.m. — Coaches Meeting

Running finals start at 6 p.m.

3200-meter run, ages 14-18

1600-meter run, ages 10-12

Field events start at 4 p.m.

Triple jump, ages 14-16

Pole vault, ages 18-14

Friday’s schedule

Running events start at 8:30 a.m.

800-meter run, ages 8-12

4x100-meter relay, ages 8-12

400-meter run, ages 8-12

50-meter dash, ages 6-8

80-meter hurdles, age 12

100-meter dash, ages 6-12

200-meter dash, ages 8-12

4x400-meter relay, ages 10-12

Field events start at 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m.

High jump

Long jump

Shot put

Discus

Saturday’s schedule

Running events start at 8:30 a.m.

1600-meter run, ages 14-18

4x100-meter relay, ages 14-18

100-meter hurdles, girls ages 14-18

110-meter hurdles, boys ages 14-18

800-meter run, ages 14-18

100-meter dash, ages 14-18

400-meter run, ages 14-18

300-meter hurdles, age 18

200-meter dash, ages 14-18

4x400-meter relay, ages 14-18

Field events start at 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m.

High jump, long jump, shot put

Upstate Parent

When Argent Agents represent South Carolina in Texas this month, they will put their collective ingenuity and creative power to the test. The group of six middle school students – Nicky Arzt, Lily Arzt, Jackson Champion-Wescott, Grayson Champion-Wescott, Henry Quackenbush and Benjamin Frick – won the South Carolina First Lego League State Championship in February, qualifying them for the world championship event in Houston, April 19 – 22.

Chris Arzt is the team’s coach and a parent of two of the competitors. All six team members attend the Sterling School in Greenville and they span grades 5 – 8.

The STEM-based program promotes the teamwork and critical thinking needed to complete challenges, both through the framework of First Lego and beyond. Arzt said it requires students to focus on problem-solving.

“They're teaching coding, but they're also trying to teach them to think like engineers,” he said. “How do you look at a problem and figure out how to solve it? And then when that doesn't work, how do you adjust and try again?”

Arzt said the program has three elements.

“One part is core values, where there are various values that the kids are encouraged and expected to model and deliver over the course of the season, like discovery, innovation, teamwork, fun, etc.,” he said.

Those values are incorporated throughout the practices and competitions.

“There's an innovation project,” Arzt said. “Based on the year's theme, they have to come up with some project, something that they can make better, and they have to talk to experts and try and figure out what they can do. And then the third part is the robot. They need to build a robot, program it, and there's a table and a set of missions. They need to program the robot to do this independently – like if it needs to go around the table and lift this thing up, move this thing over there and knock this thing down or whatever it is.”

At the state level, the team created a distinct robot that performed missions without motors. Arzt said most robots have motorized arms, but this team relied on passive attachments like ramps, levers and rubber bands.

“Their innovation project is to give water-powered generators to households in places with no power lines,” according to Arzt. “The family can use it to generate power using water from a rain gutter or from a river. It will generate enough power to have light at night or charge a cell phone.”

The season started in August. Throughout their practices and competitions, Arzt said he has seen the students learn to work together as a team.

“The way they step up for each other and help each other out, that's a big thing,” he said. “I think they have recognized the value of hard work. They did a lot more work this year than they did last year, and different people have gotten better at different things as well. Whether it's coding or whether it's persistence, and not giving up after something didn't work for five minutes, or whether it's how to interact with adults who you're trying to interview and get information from and write emails to, they've learned a lot of different things. There are a lot of different things involved, and some people focus more on one thing than another, so different people learn different skills. But they all learned a bit of everything.”

In three short weeks, avid readers of all ages and literary tastes will have an opportunity to meet 40-or-so authors and peruse their works at W. Walworth Harrison Public Library’s first-ever Author Fest.

Hosting mostly authors who are either originally from or currently living in Texas, the event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 22, and will showcase authors who write in several different genres – ranging from children’s books to horror and from dystopian teen fiction to sweeping historical romances.

Please note that with so many authors planning to attend and sell books at the event, the Herald-Banner will be dividing this story into three installments, each containing short bios of a portion of the authors who will be at the inaugural Author Fest.

This issue’s sampling of authors is listed below:

• Madison Lawson, who has small town Texas roots, is an author of science fiction and fantasy novels that incorporate suspense, social commentary and diverse characters. Her debut science fiction thriller, “The Registration,” was picked up by Sony Pictures for a film adaptation. In addition to selling her books, Lawson is also a scheduled speaker for the event. “From Book to Movie” will be the title of her 3 p.m. presentation.

• Breely Singleton is the author of children’s book “Dreams of Adventure: A Nighttime Tale.” It is a story that follows a group of playful and curious animals as they fall into a deep, fantastical dream-filled sleep. Singleton works as a teacher in North Texas, and will share her book during a storytime at 11:45 a.m. at Author Fest.

• Stephanie Fields of Campbell published her first full-length novel, suspense thriller “Willow’s Flame” in 2021. The sequel, dubbed “Willow’s Crush” is scheduled for release on July 1. In “Willow’s Flame,” Fields tells a story from four different characters’ points of view about an unraveling marriage that leads to a romantic affair, and how the situation quickly spirals out of control. At the event, Fields will be part of a panel discussion at noon, titled “Suspense and More,” with fellow authors Danielle N. McDonough and Michael Clifton.

• Danielle N. McDonough of Rockwall had a career in film and television for several years before deciding to reacquaint herself with her lifelong love of books as an author. She is the writer of a four-part series of novels titled “The Legacy,” which follows a group of young friends growing up in a dystopian setting as they come to question what they’ve been taught by the elders in their clan-based society.

• Michael Scott Clifton of Mount Pleasant is a longtime teacher and has penned several award-winning novels, which often contain elements of action, adventure, magic, fantasy and romance. Three of his fantasy novels, “The Janus Witch,” “The Open Portal” and “Escape From Wheel” all received five-star reviews from Reader’s Favorite. Other books of his, “Edison Jones” and “The Anti-Grav Elevator,” both earned Feathered Quill Book Award Bronze Medals in the Teen Readers category.

• Patty Wiseman – who’s from the Seattle, Washington area but currently lives in Northeast Texas – has published 11 books since retiring after 25 years of working as an administrative assistant. In much of her fiction, she reaches deep into her own experience as a single working mother and incorporates many of the challenges that women often face. Along with that, she also likes to mix some mystery and romance into her award-winning tales. Wiseman will also be participating in a panel, titled “Writing 101” at 11:30 a.m. along with fellow authors Linda Pirtle, Parris Afton Bonds and Jan Sikes.

• Linda and Caleb Pirtle – a married couple living in Fort Worth – are both accomplished authors of mystery novels. While Caleb mostly writes noir and psychological thrillers, Linda tends to focus more on “cozy mysteries,” set in small, close-knit communities. As a former reporter with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and travel editor for Southern Living Magazine, Caleb has also had success writing nonfiction. His coffee table book, “XIT The American Cowboy,” became the publishing industry’s third bestselling art book of all time. Meanwhile, Linda is a retired English teacher, principal and college professor. With her background in education and writing professionally, Linda is generous with sharing her know-how through various writing associations and is a beta reader for several of her author friends.

• Parris Afton Bonds – who grew up in Oak Cliff and currently lives in Querétaro, Mexico – is an accomplished author with nearly 50 books to her name, most of which are historical romances. She has had multiple titles on the New York Times Best Sellers list and ABC’s Nightline dubbed her one of the top three best-selling authors of romantic fiction. Bonds is also a co-founder of Romance Writers of America, and enjoys sharing her knowledge and expertise by teaching creative writing to both school children and female prison inmates.

• Jan Sikes, who lives in North Texas, is an author of paranormal romance novels. The three books that make up her “White Rune Series” have each earned various accolades, including the Bronze Medal and five-star reviews from Reader’s Favorite, as well as a first place prize in the 2022 Paranormal Romance Guild Reviewer’s Choice awards. She is also an avid blogger and writes and records songs with her husband, Rick.

• Sharon Feldt is a retired teacher living in Sulphur Springs who has written five children’s books, including “The Scary Hair of Sarah O’Shea” – which won the grand prize in the 2017 Red City Literary Contest. She has also hosted a monthly book club, The Bright Star Literary Society, for 15 years. At the library’s Author Fest, she is scheduled to read one of her children’s stories at 2:45 p.m.