Baldwin resident Joseph Argenzio, Jr. was the youngest American soldier to fight on D-Day

When a sergeant in the First Infantry Division told Joseph Argenzio, Jr. that he was going to the “big show,” the then 17-year-old thought he would be seeing a Hollywood show.

“Not exactly,” the sergeant responded, according to a 2006 interview Argenzio had with the Virginia Military Institute. “You're going on a cruise ... a nice cruise on the English Channel.”

Little did Argenzio know, he was going to join Allied Forces en route to Omaha Beach in France, where he would become the youngest American soldier to take part in the D-Day landing.    

Determined to serve

At 16, Argenzio was so determined to fight in World War II that he changed his birth certificate to show that he was 17, the age requirement of the Marine Corps. But the Marines weren't interested in him, so he tried the Army. Argenzio, 17 by that time, still had to change the age on his baptismal certificate to 18.

“Are you serious? You're 18?” Argenzio recalled the Army draft board saying.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Argenzio replied.

Once enlisted, Argenzio recalled being at the receiving end of many jokes, with his fellow soldiers teasing that he belonged in the Boy Scouts.

But it wasn't long before Argenzio would find himself among the legal adults, on board a landing craft headed toward Omaha Beach. They would be the first wave.

As the soldiers waited for their orders, Argenzio remembers saying, “Oh boy, it's great being with you vets.”

To which one of the soldiers replied, “Lad, the minute they drop that ramp, you're going to be a veteran.”

D-Day

In the interview with the Virginia Military Institute, Argenzio recalled that many things went wrong as the Allies attempted to take the beach. German resistance was fiercer than expected, air and sea guns missed many of their targets, and the floatation devices for Allied tanks failed.