Hillman James Prestridge was born in September 1924 in Cragford, Alabama, a small town of about 400 people. He had one older sister. They moved from Cragford to Lineville, Alabama. His father worked in a cotton warehouse there. His mother did not work, but looked after the kids. Prestridge drove a tractor on a state farm owned by Alabama, where they also lived after moving from Lineville. Everything they needed was grown on the farm, from vegetables to meat. Prestridge also worked at a grocery store, and was there when Pearl Harbor was bombed [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was 17 years old at the time, still in school, and had hardly been out in the world. He was afraid the country was going into war. When he turned 18, Uncle Sam sent him a letter and he was drafted into the Army. He did boot camp at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and was assigned to a field artillery unit.

Hillman James Prestridge was sent to boot camp to train in field artillery. Training was good, and he enjoyed the outdoors. He was proud to be in the field artillery, which was usually behind the lines where it was safer. He was then assigned to an amphibian force, and wondered what he was doing there. His field artillery outfit was sent to fight the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] who had been wiped out before he was sent overseas. He was given five days to go home before shipping out. He went overseas on the Queen Elizabeth, without any escort, arriving in Southampton, England. They did more training there. They were briefed that they were about to go into action, but not about what exactly they would be doing. They prepared to board a ship, but the operation was called off until the next day, and that is when they found out what they would be doing. They just knew they were making an invasion on French soil [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Some of the men had their legs broken by getting stuck between landing crafts [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] and the ship. They reached Omaha Beach at low tide. When high tide came in, many men drowned. He was scared to death, but his training kicked in. He credits the sailor who brought them in with saving his life by properly landing the craft. He had to jump overboard and wade into the beach. They had 60-pound packs on their back, and ten pounds of ammunition, so the Mae West floating device did not keep them afloat. He saw a lot of legs sticking out of the water. There were 88 [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] shells that looked like footballs in the air.

Hillman James Prestridge partook in the biggest operation ever [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] and was lucky. His duty was to strike and get out, which is exactly what he did. He was with the first wave landing at Omaha Beach [Annotator's Note: in Normandy, France]. They had to crawl through the hedgehogs [Annotator’s Note: large steel beams that made up part of the German defense of the Atlantic Wall]. The Navy man who drove them in got them near enough to the sand that it was not a problem to get out of the water. Had they gone in on 5 June, Rommel [Annotator's Note: German Army Generalfeldmarschall, or Field Marshal, Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel] would have been waiting for them, but by the 6th, he had gone home for his wife's birthday. The Air Force could not drop bombs anywhere near Omaha Beach for fear of hitting ground troops, but they did drop 15 or so bombs around where the Rangers went [Annotator's Note: Pointe du Hoc, Normandy, France]. They tried to take care of the pillboxes [Annotator's Note: concrete guard posts] with grenades, but some were too thick and untouchable. General Omar Bradley [Annotator's Note: US Army General Omar Nelson Bradley] called back to Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] to tell him that they needed to get out if they could. The ship Texas [Annotator's Note: USS Texas (BB-35)] began firing shells which helped greatly.

Hillman James Prestridge was serving in a field artillery unit [Annotator's Note: when he landed with the first wave at Omaha Beach during D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] whose goal was to reach Saint-Lo [Annotator's Note: Saint-Lô, France], which they did. He does not know how many planes there were, but the sky was black with bombers. When the bombers got done with Saint-Lo, there was only one building left standing. Prestridge was pulled out at Saint-Lo. His captain asked him if he knew someone named Fred Lett [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify], which he did because he was his brother-in-law. He asked for a pass but was refused, but the captain left the jeep key where he could get it, so he took the jeep to where Lett was bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite] and spent three days with him there. When he got back, his unit was on standby. They thought they would be sent to the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], but were not, and sat around France doing nothing. They were in Compiegne Forest [Annotator's Note: in Compiegne, France] and he got to see a lot of France. He did not go back into battle again after Saint-Lo. He was pulled off the front line and kept on standby, but was never sent back into combat. When the war ended, he was put on the SS John B. Hood and shipped to the United States first, where he would be given a furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and then be sent to Japan. Three days after he got home, they dropped the bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. The men on the John B. Hood received some of the first discharges. Prestridge was discharged on 1 September 1945.

Hillman James Prestridge got married and tried to find a job [Annotator's Note: after being discharged from the Army in September 1945]. He finally wound up at a foundry in Talladega [Annotator's Note: Talladega, Alabama] where he worked for a few years. He then went to the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind [Annotator's Note: also in Talladega, Alabama] as an electrician, and stayed there until he retired 38 years later. He was a nervous wreck when he got back from the war, and tried to get help from the VA [Annotator's Note: United States Department of Veterans Affairs; also referred to as the Veterans Administration], but had no luck. His wife helped him get through it. After retiring, he helped with his daughter's business of buying scrap gold.

Hillman James Prestridge's most memorable experience from his time in the service was a mistake between him and a gunner. They were in Maryland practicing firing on a 105 Howitzer [Annotator's Note: M2A1 105mm howitzer; standard light field howitzer]. When his gun went off, it made a large noise because it fired seven charges [Annotator's Note: propelling charge used to fire a projectile from a howitzer or cannon] instead of four. This is one of the reasons that he ended up going into the amphibious force. [Annotator's Note: Prestridge laughs.] He thinks there should be a draft now. When Prestridge thinks of his service today, he is proud that he did something for his country and lived through the biggest operation ever [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Before the war, people did not have jobs, and then after the war, our government and the people learned a good bit. He has spoken to school groups, and regrets that only two weeks are dedicated to studying the war.