Survival on the front lines

Trudging through a snowy field stained more red than white, John Varano saw the gruesomeness of war firsthand. He felt the panicked adrenaline as he floated with a rifle in his hand storming Omaha Beach in a rain of machine gun fire. He breathed in the smoke of burned towns as he marched through Nazi-controlled France, fighting his way toward Germany.

For nearly three years, the Casselberry man’s life was lived continuously on the front lines of WWII. More than 60 years later, his uncanny attention to detail paints a unique picture of war from a man who fought some of its most dangerous battles and survived.

Varano’s mind returns to war with an unnerving clarity as he describes what seems like a lifetime under fire.

“I don’t think any of us tried to be heroes or macho,” he said. “But you got conditioned, you had to kill or be killed, and they used to pound that in our head… we were just trained and called replacements; we did what we had to do.”

He remembers the two years and nine months he served vividly, a life on the battlefield chronicled in engrossing detail in his memoir, “Artilleryman, A Memoir of WWII.”

His life changed

It was August 1943 and Varano had just turned 19 years old when he was transferred to Fort Bragg, an artillery camp that changed his life forever.

Varano said it was bitter cold at night as he left America to begin a journey that would have ever-lasting effects on his life.

“The stars in the sky — I never saw anything shine as brightly and beautiful, but it was dark,” Varano said. “This huge boat that we were on was like a little toy in the bathtub, just tossing us around.”

Varano eventually found himself ashore Omaha Beach as the Normandy landings began and D-Day marked the history books forever.

“I was glad I was in the second wave of men,” Varano said. “The first wave was a slaughter.”

Fearing for his life as he paddled to shore wearing 35-pound gear, Varano said goodbye to a friend who helped keep him afloat amid a sea of bodies.

“I turned to Willy and said ‘goodbye. I’ll see you in paradise,’ Willy turned to me and said ‘same for me, John,’” he said.

Neither Varano nor his friend would see paradise on June 6, 1944, reaching shore only to witness the devastation and destruction of war.

“In my group, they killed 35 men alone,” he said.

Only bombing runs from allied planes above saved him and his fellow soldiers, he said, as they helped escort troops on a push east across a hostile France still controlled by the Nazis. But that push would help end a war that claimed the lives of millions across two continents. Varano finally went home as the war ended.

Varano said he still thanks his luck for bringing him home alive, and both he and his family are grateful he made it.

“I can’t believe how close we came to not being born and all that my father went through,” daughter Norma Glasgow said.

Feelings return

The affects of war have taken a toll on Varano. Even at the age of 86, the war still haunts him in his sleep.

“There are sometimes when my wife asked me what I’m doing up, because I swear I have memories of things that bring back the instances that occurred,” he said. “They are experiences that I will never forget.”

Glasgow said her father never discussed his painful memories until after he retired.

“My father never talked about the war; he had his nightmares at night that he didn’t discuss, he didn’t start digging into those painful memories until after he retired from his shoe store business,” she said. “That’s when he started feeling those feelings again and wanted to get them on paper.”

Varano is now sharing his memories with others more than 60 years later in his memoir.

“I have had people who have read my book and called me and told me that they couldn’t put it down till they finished it; some even told me they read through the night,” Varano said.

His daughter Mary Cramer said writing the book was something her father always wanted to do.

“He said so many times he wanted to leave a legacy for his family,” she said. “He wanted to pass that history on to his family and what it was like to live through it, and the book really makes you feel like you were right there in his shoes.”

Now that Varano has finally completed his legacy, he can close one chapter on WWII, and rest a little easier.

“We all knew the risks involved; it was part of being a soldier in war; you accepted it,” Varano said. “Now I’m just living my life and waiting for God.”

Learn more

John Varano will be at Borders in Winter Park Village for the signing of his book, “Artilleryman” on Saturday, May 28 from 1-3 p.m. For more information, call Borders at 407-647-3300.