FEATURED ARTIFACT: FRANZ GOCKEL'S BOOTS

Franz Gockel celebrated his eighteenth birthday while defending the Atlantic Wall as a member of Germany’s 726th Infantry Regiment of the 352nd Infantry Division. Wearing these boots, the only ones he received during his time in the German Army, he manned a captured Polish machine gun in Widerstandsnest (Resistance Nest) 62 on Omaha Beach.

Gift of Franz Gockel, The National World War II Museum Inc., 2004.235