Bud Olson volunteered for overseas duty in October 1943. Sent to a replacement depot in England, Olson volunteered for the airborne troops when the opportunity arose. He entered the 2nd Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division in the 401st Glider Infantry. Prior to the invasion of Normandy in the early part of 1944 [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], the 401st was attached to the 3rd Battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division. It was kind of a mix up between the 101st and the 82nd until they left Normandy. He had voyaged to England on the Queen Elizabeth [Annotator's Note: RMS Queen Elizabeth] and landed in Scotland. Afterward, he transferred to Reading, England just outside London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. The city was small. Air raids came every night which resulted in the troops being sealed in their camp. It was about December 1943. He had six months of training prior to D-Day. Olson was a staff sergeant. His company commander told him there were too many staff sergeants, so he was going to demote him to private without prejudice. Having knowledge of military law, Olson knew he had a right to a hearing prior to that action. During the meeting, Olson was asked by a major about his knowledge of military law. The major, who was the battalion assistant commander, inquired if Olson would be willing to go to school in order to keep his rank. Olson agreed and for three months he went to school every day. He attended air school, German small arms school, air force identification school, and in January 1944 he was sent to Eisenhower's [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] headquarters in London. He was the only sergeant from the battalion who attended the school at headquarters. He studied the invasion of Normandy, made maps, and learned of German emplacements over a six-week period. He knew the layout of Normandy by heart. Olson as well as officers from other regiments and battalions attended a class where General Eisenhower addressed them. The General told them to make their education worthwhile. After returning to the division camp, Olson addressed different groups every day and discussed what he had learned about the pending invasion. Classes were held with officers and enlisted men. Olson was not allowed out of camp because of what he knew. The restriction disgusted him. He knew the landing sites but not the dates of the invasion. In the run up to the invasion, the training was daily. He trained in gliders. One incident in training resulted in a fatality. Three gliders planned to land in echelon from right to left. The troops were instructed to get out of their glider and immediately run to the right to avoid an adjacent glider landing on the opposing side. Olson was aboard the first of three gliders with the battalion staff. After landing, the occupants headed right. The next glider came in for a landing on the opposite side as planned. Olson and the rest had to hit the ground to avoid being struck by the errant pilot. One lieutenant did not fall fast enough, was hit under the chin, and was decapitated during the training exercise. That was the first casualty that Olson had seen. He was ordered to pick up the lieutenant's helmet. The dead officer's head was still in it. It was pretty tough.

Bud Olson was prepared well by his training prior to flying into Normandy [Annotator's Note: with Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division on D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He was in a Horsa Glider [Annotator's Note: Airspeed AS.51 Horsa glider] numbered H-14. It was the lead ship of the battalion with 54 gliders following behind them. As they loaded the gliders at daybreak, General Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] came up and talked to them. He spoke near Olson and told the infantrymen to anticipate 30 percent casualties so sell their lives dearly. Olson wanted to tell the General that his life was not for sale but decided not to say anything. The glider contained a load of 28 infantrymen with a pilot and copilot and two carrier pigeons. The pigeons were to be released upon landing so they would fly back to England and indicate the glider had successfully landed. Takeoff was at six o'clock at the break of day. No problems were experienced. Olson stood behind the pilot and copilot with his situation map to indicate where they were to land. He could view the beaches of Normandy for a few seconds but remembers little of what he saw. The antiaircraft fire was heavy. His plane was hit, and the glider was released. Others behind followed them into the landing areas. They landed near Blosville [Annotator's Note: Blosville, France] in Normandy. Olson hit the ground very hard. The glider nose detached and killed those in it. Olson was the only survivor. He came to with a glider wheel on top of him. He had his map in his hand and an ‘03 rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber Model 1903, or M1903, Springfield bolt action rifle]. He was ready to shoot but the weapon's barrel was bent. Discarding his rifle, he watched as other gliders landed. The field was cleared of German resistance fairly quickly. Olson was injured and bleeding with his back in significant pain. After help from an aid man, Olson refused to be sent back for further treatment. His pants had been ripped so he sewed them up and moved on. It was a complete mix up of personnel in the beginning. Troops gathered around what officers could be found. The battalion commander, Colonel Carrell [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant Colonel Charles A. Carrell], was badly hurt and leaning up against a tree being treated. The Germans who surrendered to the Americans had to be protected from the Frenchmen who had picked up M1 rifles [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. The French were disarmed by the Americans. There were not many American officers left so the troops took the initiative. The first town liberated was Blosville. The Germans surrendered there. A CP [Annotator's Note: command post] was established near another town in the direction of Sainte-Mère-Église [Annotator's Note: Sainte-Mère-Église, France].

Bud Olson [Annotator's Note: with Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division] heard naval bombardment shells going overhead [Annotator's Note: after landing during D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He and others grouped together behind some road fill despite being told in training not to gather together. When a shell exploded nearby, it was quite an experience, but no one was killed. Olson was in the command post and not a rifle platoon. He was in charge of the intelligence squad in the CP [Annotator's Note: command post]. He worked as an officer in the CP albeit he was a noncommissioned officer. The problems mainly involved locating and sorting out the troops. He thanked God he was alive. The men wandered around for a day or two with little to do. Reaching Sainte-Mère-Église [Annotator's Note: Sainte-Mère-Église, France], he saw a dead soldier hanging from a church. He walked through the town square. The town was clear of Germans. There were a lot of people there. They handed out wine if soldiers wanted it. The French were happy to see the liberators. With most of the officers missing, the troops were more like a mob. Groups were gathered by staff sergeants, sergeants and corporals.

Bud Olson [Annotator's Note: with Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division] and the men he was with were ordered to attack the La Fière causeway [Annotator's Note: on the Merderet River in Normandy, France] on the morning of 9 June [Annotator's Note: 9 June 1944]. His CP [Annotator's Note: command post] was 300 to 400 yards north of the causeway. Colonel Carrell [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant Colonel Charles A. Carrell] was there. General Gavin [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General James Maurice "Jumpin' Jim" Gavin] gave the order to Carrell to attack across the causeway. Carrell refused to advance because of his concern that he would lose too many men. Gavin relieved Carrell and placed the assistant battalion commander, Major Moore [Annotator's Note: US Army Major Ned D. Moore], in command. Walking to the crossing of the causeway, two companies were ahead of Olson's company. Enemy fire became heavy, and the troops laid down and did not move. A 1st Lieutenant Booker [Annotator's Note: US Army 1st Lieutenant Bruce Booker] rose up and told the men to follow him. He was immediately shot. The men quickly rose up and crossed the bridge and knocked out a German machine gun nest on the opposite side. Two tanks were on the causeway. One was immobile but still firing. The second tank was trying to get around the stationary tank. The airborne troops were ordered to run across the causeway as fast as they could. When Olson ran near the tank, it fired, and the muzzle blast knocked him down. He thought he was killed. He got up but no troops were ahead of him, so he stopped. General Ridgway [Annotator's Note: US Army General Matthew Bunker Ridgway, Commander, 82nd Airborne Division] came across the causeway and told the unwounded to follow him. Olson joined them and they knocked out another machine gun nest. On the far side of the causeway, the troops formed a CP near a villa with a lot of German equipment laying nearby. A skirmish line was established. A counterattack by the Germans came that afternoon. Major Moore had been wounded in the neck crossing the causeway. Olson dressed the neck wound. When the enemy attacked, Major Moore pointed out a German mortar nearby. He told Olson that he had sent him to school to learn about enemy equipment. The Major wanted to know how to shoot the mortar. Olson proceeded to shoot a lot of enemy ordnance. Previously, Olson had dressed the wound of a wounded friend and given him morphine. He never saw his friend again after leaving him. Olson saw Colonel Carrell after he had been injured when landing in his glider. He never saw the Colonel after that. A few days after the assault on the bridge, Major Moore was relieved by Major Gardner [Annotator's Note: US Army Major Arthur Gardner]. Major Moore requested that Olson, his friend, testify at his hearing. Olson planned to do so but was order by Major Leahy [Annotator's Note: US Army Major Osmund Leahy] not to do so and he did not. Olson saw Major Moore in Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] later. Moore asked Olson why he did not attend the hearing and testify. Olson told him that he was given a direct order not to attend—Military Law. The La Fière causeway had machine gun nests along both sides of it. The only one Olson helped eliminate was on the far side of the bridge. The others had been eliminated prior to him reaching them. In addition to the machine gun fire, there was heavy artillery fire as well. That night, Major Moore ordered Olson to recross the causeway and locate the 90th Division [Annotator's Note: 90th Infantry Division] which had been designated to relieve the airborne troops. Olson crossed the causeway and located the leading elements of the 90th. He told the leading elements of the division how to rapidly cross the causeway. They were inexperienced troops and showed some fear. Olson was determined to not reveal his fear to them. They crossed the causeway under heavy fire and Olson showed them where to go. He was the only enlisted man who crossed that causeway three times in one day.

Bud Olson [Annotator's Note: with Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division] was detailed to pick up American dead. He had been a graves registration noncom [Annotator's Note: noncommissioned officer] prior to Normandy. The graves registration officer was killed in combat, so Olson became next in line for the duty of picking up the casualties and taking them to a particular place. It was very disagreeable duty. He had men to assist him load the bodies carefully on a trailer. His detail got sick of the work and refused to do it. Olson stopped at a wine cellar and his men loaded up with Calvados [Annotator's Note: a Normandy apple-based liquor]. They went on to do the detail but afterward he went to Major Gardner [Annotator's Note: US Army Major Arthur Gardner] and requested to be reassigned. He picked up perhaps 100 American bodies that had been laying there for days. He will never forget the experience. The line companies were down in manpower, but headquarters maintained its staff level. About one out of four in the battalion were killed crossing La Fière causeway [Annotator's Note: over the Merderet River in Normandy, France]. Some refused to advance. Survivors felt they were better than other veterans because they had made it through the battle. They had pride and looked down on replacements. On returning to the causeway, he crossed it three more times [Annotator's Note: he had crossed it three times during the battle and immediately after the battle]. He found that the terrain had changed somewhat but the French were very nice to him. It was different from the first time. They were very much against them then. The return to Normandy was much better than the first time he was there. Olson had picked up a souvenir at the bridge during the combat there. It was a P-38 [Annotator's Note: Walther P38, German 9 mm semi-automatic pistol].