In this excerpt, the commander of the 16th Infantry Regiment, Lt. Col. Herbert C. Hicks Jr., suggests that putting most of the medical personnel on one ship, which was sunk, was a mistake.
"It appears that all medical personnel for evacuation, etc., were in one boat which was sunk by the enemy. ... A lot of personnel were wounded on the beach and later drowned because the water was rising very fast and there were not sufficient medical personnel to remove them to a place of safety."
(The landing was timed to occur at low tide on Omaha Beach so obstacles planted by the Germans in the surf would be visible. As the hours passed, the tide rose.)
Hicks also had harsh words for the bombers: "The Air Corps might just as well have stayed home for all the good their bombing concentration did. There were no indications of any bombs hitting closer than fifteen hundred yards to any of the strongpoints...""