I've posted this before on the memorabilia side, but felt it was appropriate to re-tell the story here.
My grandfather piloted a landing craft (think opening seen of Saving Private Ryan) on Utah Beach during the the battle of Normandy. As he was making one of his runs to shore, enemy fire struck and disabled a landing craft next to his which was being piloted by his bunk mate and good friend. After dropping his troops off, my grandfather turned back to the disabled craft and pulled off the troops, including the dead and wounded. Upon returning to the ship, his bunk mate would succumb to his injuries and his possessions were given to my grandfather to ensure the family received them. One of those possessions was his landing map. A few hours into the battle, the maps were then collected and destroyed, as key information was contained on the maps (such as subsequent strike points). My grandfather turned in the second map he received with his bunk mates possessions, but kept his own. Before he passed away, my grandfather passed the map along to me. While I'm not a collector of military items, I have been told it is one of only a handful surviving maps from the Battle of Normandy.
