Mister R. Cronan who died in 2015 at the age of 92 was one of our local WWII veterans and was in the third wave on Omaha Beach and said in an interview,

"me and pappy, so far as we knew, were the only survivors of our boat. We called him pappy due to his age. He was at least 20 or 21. At some point up the beach the smoke was so thick that we were compelled to stoop under the smoke to see our way over the fallen wounded and dead and around obstacles. Under that smoke we saw forked rivulets of blood flowing back down the beach into the water."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M_ylKgyRy7A&pp=ygUXUm9sYW5kIGNyb25hbiBpbnRlcnZpZXc%3D