Decorated Army Veteran Charles Norman Shay, who at 19 saved lives at Omaha Beach on D-Day, has died. A citizen of the Penobscot Nation who was raised in Old Town, Shay was known for his heroic work as an army medic, and as one of the first indigenous soldiers from the era to share his experiences.
Born in Bristol, Connecticut, Charles Norman Shay grew up on the Indian Island Reservation, and was one of the first children from the reservation to attend school across the river in Old Town.
After the United States joined WWII, Shay was drafted into the army. He was trained as a medic, and transferred to the 16th Infantry Regiment — one of the three combat regiments of the 1st Infantry Division that spearheaded the Normandy Invasion, known as D-Day.
In an interview with Maine Public in 2007, Shay recalled coming out of the water onto Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, and racing to an embankment for cover.
"When I got the embankment, of course being a medic, I started treated the wounded that made it to the embankment — binding up their wounds and so forth," Shay said. "It was just a reaction I had to go and help them."
Shay was later awarded the Silver Star for going back into the water during the Normandy invasion to pull injured soldiers to shore, saving them from drowning.
"I don't know how I ever did it," Shay said. "I pulled several men up out of the water to the safety of the — out of the water to the beach. I did what I could for them. I don't know where my strength came from, but I was able to save several lives."
Shay would later become one of the first Indigenous soldiers to talk about his experiences in battle, said Harald Prins, co-author of "From Indian Island to Omaha Beach: The D-Day Story of Charles Shay."
"Most people, when they go to American Indian reservations, they want to know about moccasins, travel dances, shamans, you name it, but they don't really think about the fact that many of these Native Americans have traveled all across the world and fought across the world," Prins said on Maine Calling last year.
Shay reenlisted after WWII, and was stationed in Austria and later deployed in Korea before he retired in 1954.
He returned to Maine in 2003, shortly before the death of his wife. He was awarded France's highest award, the Legion of Honor, in 2007, and moved to the Normandy region of France in 2018, where he lived until his death on Wednesday.
On Maine Calling last year, Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis said Shay is held in high esteem by his community.
"I'm just proud of the ambassador that he is and and the example he sets for people, and how people look at Indian people in general," Francis said. "That's a guy that should be emulated."
A post on Shay's Instagram page says he died peacefully, surrounded by family. He was 101.
