Slapton Sands taught the Allies lessons, at a high price.

This column is the first of three D-Day columns written by war correspondent Ernie Pyle describing the Allied invasion of Normandy. 

On D-Day, Higgins boats landed thousands of GIs on French shores. Often overlooked in comparison to the LCVP is its "big brother"—the Landing Craft Mechanized.

On July 23, 1944, a celebration marked a milestone in production for Higgins Industries, which had just finished its 10,000th boat for delivery to the US Navy. 

While the Overlord operation was a combined effort of land, sea, and air forces, the amphibious assault plan was given the code name Neptune.