CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Horace Savage was almost 20 years old when he arrived on the beaches of Normandy in 1944.
It was months after D-Day, but Savage said that doesn’t mean the area was calm. It was still war.
Savage, who turns 99 on July 1, was drafted when he was only 18 years old, a student at the then-Hampton Institute.
“I was one of those, I guess you can say, patriotic youngster,” Savage said. “I would have been disappointed if I had not had the opportunity to serve.”
Because of past injuries, he wasn’t cleared for combat and was part of a unit tasked with getting supplies to the front lines.
He told 10 On Your Side that war was terrifying, but duty is duty and he had missions to complete.
“High toned explosion there, here, an explosion, there an explosion,” he said, remembering the active war atmosphere. “It’s what you have to deal with. And when time comes to seek shelter, you seek shelter. And when it’s time to perform your duty, that’s what you do.”
While he wasn’t there for the D-Day invasion, his unit arrived in Normandy months later on Oct. 15, faced with the wreckage from the events that took place just months before.
“And to think about the poor fellows who — you might look over here and see a body that washed up on the shore and you had to think about all of the men who went ashore that didn’t get the chance to come back.”
Not only did he have to deal with the danger of war, but he also had to experience the isolation of a segregated military.
“So, there were places, even on military installations, places where I was stationed, that Black soldiers couldn’t go right on post,” he said.
But he said people in Europe were much more welcoming.
“They were anxious to learn about us, and many of them were not hesitant to seek association with us,” he said. “So, all of that to me was broadening.”
After the war, he returned to Hampton Roads to live an accomplished life, spending 37 years with Portsmouth Public Schools as a teacher, coach, assistant superintendent and more.
“I think my military service was a very significant part of my preparation for being a citizen in this country,” he said.