Truck Driver to Tank Operator

ERATH — There were 50,000 Sherman Tanks destroyed in World War II. The good news for Lee Louis Bernard was that he was never driving one of those tanks. The one he drove with four other crew men survived, including landing on the Beach of Normandy.
Bernard of Erath, who is now 91, is one of four brothers who served in the military during World War II. His parents refused to let him enlist because he was the youngest of the four brothers.
When he turned 18 and graduated from Erath High, his brothers were already serving their country and the younger Bernard was looking forward to being drafted. He even went to visit the lady at the draft board in the parish to find out if he is ever going to get a draft card. She told him to go to the post office, and there would be a draft card waiting for him.
“I wanted to be drafted because there was hardly anyone in Erath,” said Bernard. “They were overseas.”
His brothers serving in the military were Henry Jr., who was in the Navy; Vories in the Coast Guard; Leo in the Army and then Lee joined the Army.
Because he had experience driving large trucks in Erath, he was selected to drive a tank.
His first visit to a hostile country was the Invasion of Normandy (D-Day) in 1944, when his tank landed on the Beach of Normandy. The tank he drove always led the group because of his driving experience and the tank always had the company tank commander was aboard.
During the invasion, Bernard remembers things did not start off too well for his crew because the boat that was carrying his tank hit a sandbar and stopped long before they reached the beach.
“We put the gate down, and my tank was the first one out of the boat,” said Bernard. “I kept going and the water kept coming up and coming up. The assistant driver closed his hatch. The tank commander got on top and closed his hatch. I left my open. The water came about a foot before coming inside the tank. I had made it to the beach before the water came in.”
Bernard said his tank battalion was the second group of tanks to land on the beach. He remembers seeing bloody bodies scattered throughout the beach and in the water.
“The water was red with blood,” he said.
While in France, Bernard said his unit was lucky because the tanks never came under heavy fire. As a driver, rolling over a mine covered in two feet of snow was every tank crew’s fear. He said he witnessed a crew member on another tank jump off the tank and get blown to pieces because he landed on a mine.
While in Normandy, Bernard used his Cajun French language to help make friends and translate. He also picked up a few cases of champagne in France. He said every time he helped someone in town, they gave him a bottle of champagne.
In 2009, Bernard was one of the 38 veterans who was bestowed the Legion of Honor Metal for his service. It was given to him by the President of the French Republic, Nicholas Sarkozy, 64 years after D-Day.
Today, Bernard is retired and lives with his wife Vella Mae Comeaux, who he has been dating since the eighth grade. They have two children and six grand children.