90-year-old Gastonia Navy vet remembers World War II service – WSOC TV

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A 90-year-old veteran who stormed the beaches of Normandy and the Philippines  in World War II rode in the Veterans Day parade Wednesday in Gastonia.

James Noles, who was born in 1925 and was raised in Gastonia, was in the Navy for 3½ years during World War II.

He was part of the first wave of attackers on Normandy Beach in 1944. Noles told Channel 9 reporter Ken Lemon that he watched men get shot down and killed around him. He said he never made it up the hill, but took heavy fire the entire time.

Lemon asked Noles how he made it out. "God was with me," Noles said.

What was left of his team took German prisoners back to England. Noles said many prisoners were looking forward to captivity because life in the bunkers was worse than life in an English prison.

Noles said that after Normandy, he was shipped back to the United States, then sent to the Pacific and was part of the effort to taken the Philippines. He told Lemon that he saw heavy fire there too and he was lucky to return to Gastonia without an injury.

He was asked to sit with the Vietnam War vets on their floats in the Gastonia Veterans Day parade. He said he was thrilled to be a part of the parade because he wants to make sure everyone honors the men and women who took up the fight after he left the armed forces.

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