About The Author: Doc Westring

In 2008 I was surprised to discover that a fellow jazz enthusiast I had known for a few years might have been the first US infantryman who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. I was awed, and the more he told me about his war exploits the more impressed I became. The experiences of WWII soldiers were being rapidly lost as the veterans aged and died. I told him I wanted to see his stories preserved and published, and was pleased when he agreed to my doing a book about him. Our subsequent interviews were the genesis for this volume. 

I’m a retired lawyer and actor, and when an opportunity exists, I still perform regularly as a jazz pianist and singer. All my previous writing and publishing was associated with legal matters. This is my first non-law book.

I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and at 16 began working as a pianist. After college and law school in Madison I practiced law in Green Bay, and then in Milwaukee. I performed music in both cities, but most of my acting and voice talent work was in the Chicago market. In 2009, my wife, Jo, and I retired to the place where she was born and raised, Washington Island, Wisconsin. It’s a 36 square-mile hunk of limestone in Lake Michigan about five miles off the northern tip of Door County. 

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this new world of writing and publishing, and would love to write another book like this. I have become fascinated by the War and the experiences of those who were in it. If you know anyone with interesting stories about a WWII veteran that should be conserved, please let me know or have them contact me.