In the beginning of the movie Saving Private Ryan, director Steven Spielberg depicted the sacrifice many Americans soldiers made while storming the beaches of France on June 6, 1944. However, while the opening scene illustrated a battle with the intensity never before scene on the big screen, in the end, it was just a movie; the action could have been halted and the scene shot again. On the beaches of Normandy 60 years ago, however, there were no second takes. Many Americans lost their lives on that day, taken in the prime of their lives.

From his home on Hampton Street, D-Day survivor and longtime Mineola resident Ray Vaz remembers the day when he and his fellow troops landed on Utah beach in France in what would be the most famous campaign in American history.

On the morning of June 6, 1944, Vaz, a troop in the Army's 90th Division, 359 Infantry, found himself on a boat waiting to land on Utah beach. "We were standing out there first thing in the morning, sitting on the big ship that took us across the English Channel," he recalled.

While the coast was being bombarded, it would soon be time for the troops to invade. "We were 17 years old. We thought we were in a movie. It turned out to be a little bit different," he said.

Even then, while the American forces were about to endure severe casualties, the thought was not on dying, but securing the beach.

Landing crafts would soon take the troops closer to the shore. The craft Vaz was on never did make it to the beach because of a lot of artillery fire coming in. Instead, the landing barge stopped the length of a football field away from the shore.

The troops, carrying enough equipment and supplies for five days including a mortar shell strapped to their legs for those coming in later, were dropped off. When Vaz entered the water, his modest height did not keep him above the surface and with all equipment, he went under. He pulled his floatation devise, referred to by soldiers as a "Mae West" and surfaced. The only problem was that Vaz had lost his rifle.

Vaz picked up his friend Smitty's rifle. Smitty was hit on the beach and Vaz still isn't sure what ever happened to him.

"By the time I had gotten to the coast and what had happened to me, jumping off the boat and going under and swimming across, I was starting to get the jitters," he said.

Then the mission became not only to survive but to proceed into France, heavily encumbered with food and ammunition for five days as well as an extra set of specially protective underwear in case they were to come in contract with mustard gas. "We had three different sets of clothes on us going in and all the other stuff we had to carry, we were like a time bomb going in there," Vaz said.

On the shore of Utah beach, Vaz and the other troops found themselves under heavy fire. "We were just very lucky that we were able to get in and establish a beach head and move ahead," he said.

Moving along from hedgerow to hedgerow to hedgerow, the troops made their way further into France.

On D-Day, America suffered heavy casualties in the campaign to secure the beaches in what was a key military maneuver. Those who made it could be considered lucky. Vaz considers himself lucky that he made it, although in some instances, luck almost ran out.

The second day of the campaign, Vaz was shot in the leg. Then on his birthday, July 31, he joined his outfit again. The outfit moved further and further toward Germany, encountering resistance. "You were constantly up on the line," Vaz said. "It was an everyday thing."

The American soldiers captured the port of Cherbourg and then encircled the German 7th Army in the town of Falaise.

Although the campaign proved to be successful, the sacrifice was high. Vaz said he went to France with people he knew but after coming back from his hospital stay in England, there were only one or two left from his platoon.

After traveling 10 to 20 miles a day, Vaz and his unit stopped. "We went through pretty good until we ran out of gas. We didn't move for about three or four days and then we finally got on the move again," he said.

The troops would cross the Moselle River and then took a village on the other side of the river. In order to make sure the Germans were cleared out of the village, Vaz remembers entering an outhouse. "We sat in there with the door open. All of a sudden, a barrage of German 88s [artillery pieces] started coming in. One of them hit in front. It knocked me out," he said.

Vaz woke up to find his rifle cut in half and shrapnel in his arm. To this day, he cannot straighten his right arm. Vaz then went to a field hospital and was eventually flown to a hospital in Paris. From there, he went to England, where he was operated on. He still has the scar from the operation.

From there, he went back to his company. Since he could not carry a rifle, he went to a hospital in Belgium. His last duty in Germany was as an MP.

He came home in 1946 after going into the Army in 1943. "Anybody who says that war is not hell is lying through their teeth," Vaz said.

Although it was 60 years ago, Vaz has detailed recollections of the war. He remembers his unit helping to liberate the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. "When we got there, I don't think there was anybody there that wasn't crying. A lot of guys went in. I didn't. To this day, I feel sorry that I didn't, but I didn't have the stomach," he said.

He recalls the times laying in the foxhole full of water, not able to get out because the Germans had the high ground. There was rarely a break from the war.

"At that age, you don't realize you could die, but I tell you, after the first day I was there, it was completely different," he remembered. "It only takes one day, maybe one hour. It's something I hope to God nobody has to go through."

Sometimes Vaz still dreams he is in combat. "I guess it will never go away," he said.

It is now 60 years later and Vaz is here as a testament to the sacrifice made by many to preserve America's freedom as well as the freedom of Europe. The horrors of war may always remain with those who fought and the wounds of war continue to afflict, evidence that the price of freedom is not cheap.

Mineola is fortunate to have men like Vaz and John DaVanzo, who survived after his ship, the U.S.S. Glennon struck a mine off the Normandy Beach on June 8, 1944, to continue to make the community and the country great.