November 21, 2003
By Ross Dolan
Staff Writer

The movie “Saving Private Ryan” didn’t have the details far wrong. That was John Pellengren’s assessment and he should know; he was there.
Pellengren, a retired architect now living in Castle Pines North was a corporal in the Army during the June 6, 1944, D-Day offensive. While WWII would drag on for another year, the massive offensive was a turning point in the war.
But it came at a terrible cost to both sides.
Pellengren and others who experienced the life-and-death struggles on Omaha Beach are the subjects of a one-hour documentary by Grand Junction filmmaker, Larry Cappetto entitled “Lest They Be Forgotten.”
Cappetto, 46, whose uncle fought in WWII and whose father fought in Korea, has made it his life’s mission to tell the stories of the men who fought that day.
While Cappetto has limited his task to the Omaha Beach landing and the time from 12 midnight on the June 6 to midnight June 7, the task has been a huge, and urgent undertaking.
“These men are dying at an alarming rate,” said Cappetto, citing estimates that about 1,500 veterans pass away each day. “The interviews have been incredible,” he said, “these men have welcomed me into their homes and shared their lives with me. I have to say that interviewing them has changed my life. These men have become my heroes and role models, though none will admit to being heroes. They always tell me that the real heroes lie buried over there.”
Cappetto said the demand for information about his film has also been overwhelming. He jetted to Ohio recently to speak to 500 kids about his documentary. When the film premiered in Phoenix, more than 300 veterans and family members showed — a much higher number than he expected for the invitation-only event.
Cappetto said many of the old vets are realizing that time is growing short to tell their stories. “I think they sense the urgency. Many didn’t share anything about their experiences until this interview; they just held it inside all these years and I think this film achieves my goal of representing history and allowing these men to tell their stories.” Many still have nightmares about that beach landing even though it was nearly 60 years ago, said Cappetto.
That day is still vivid for John Pellengren who, drafted fresh out of high school, was an army corporal at the time. He was in the second wave to hit Omaha. The “dog green” sector represented in the movie “Saving Private Ryan” was the same zone Pellengren and his fellow GIs were scheduled to land but after experiencing the fierce German resistance depicted in the film officers moved Pellengren’s landing party to another section of the beach.
It wasn’t much of an improvement. Fortifications forced landing craft to drop men further from the beach than expected. “We were dropped in three feet of water and the only firepower we had was from a few half-tracks with their .50-caliber machine guns,” said Pellengren, “Tanks that were supposed to “swim” ashore sank in the ocean and only two made it ashore.”
Pellengren said that men huddled to avoid being hit on the fire-swept beach and gradually worked their way up the bluffs above Omaha. That took time, he said because the beach and the hillside were littered with mines, which took a horrific toll. Pellengren still wonders why the Air Force or Navy didn’t blast the hillsides prior to the landing to clear a way for the troops.
But that’s all in the past now and while Pellengren still remembers friends and fallen comrades he hopes the film will continue to speak for him and his buddies. “It will be a keepsake for our families,” he said in one filmed interview, “and I hope they will see it some day and say Granddad was a patriot.”
Cappetto’s personal keepsake is his film and the snapshots he takes of himself with each vet following his interview session.
Cappetto said he will continue to seek D-Day survivors record the stories of these vets and that he already has enough material to produce a second volume for his film. Last Saturday’s Denver premiere for “Lest They Be Forgotten,” at the Wyndham Hotel in Denver and was attended by Colorado Congressman Scott McInnis. Information about the project can be found at Cappetto’s Web site: www.omahabeach.org.