BARS AND STRIPES

Along with another combat veteran, Earl Young, I immediately spotted the technical error of placing captain’s bars on the front of Tom Hanks’ helmet in “Saving Private Ryan” (Letters, July 26). This detail in no way diminishes my appreciation for an epic film that--finally--shows what the landing on Omaha Beach was really like.

I landed on Omaha on D+1 outside Vierville, where casualties among all five beaches were by far the highest. On D+2 I walked down the beach and was soon picking my way through the shattered bodies of thousands of U.S. soldiers, many even younger than I. Fifty-four years later, these images still flash into my mind each day.

To those who may complain about the “excessive realism” of “Saving Private Ryan,” I can only say that it was much more realistic to those who died there--and to those who lived.

GORDON HEARNE

Encino

* Earl Young is in error when he says that no officer would wear his insignia on his helmet during World War II. In fact, there was a standing order in the Third Army that all officers have their insignia attached to their helmets.

I commanded the 2nd Battalion of the 317th Infantry for three months during some of the bloodiest fighting of 1944. On Sept. 26, 1944, during an attack on an obscure village named Moivron, a German sniper followed me all day long because he could see from the insignia on my helmet that I was the commander. Those of us who had to undergo this type of scrutiny from German snipers jokingly (?) called our insignia the gold and silver aiming points. Incidentally,we were not supposed to cover the aiming points with mud or other material.

JAMES H. HAYES

Westlake Village