tommy mcdonnell stormed omaha beach when he was 21, not thinking how the day would live in history but his experience to be forgotten. >> i want my boys to see where it happened. >> reporter: he returned this week with two generations at his side, his grandson matt alexander is an iraq war veteran. >> i felt like i needed to see it to put it in perspective and changed my perspective of what my grand dad went through. >> reporter: he was a sharp shooter, the big red one. their mission to take omaha beach, where the famous scene in "saving private ryan" captured the bloodshed and violence of that morning. few of mcdonald's friends survived and on his way up a beach, a piece of sharp neil pierced him. >> felt like a hot poker, but it didn't hurt. >> come on. >> well, it hurt but i could move. >> reporter: the army wanted him to stay on but he had had enough. >> i had said i've done all the killing i'm going to do. i'm going to go to medical school, become a doctor and start saving lives instead of taking them. >> reporter: back home, tommy mcdonnell became an obstetricn n sta strigs and d