Korean War Leonard Treherne "Max" Schroeder Jr. (July 16, 1918 – May 26, 2009) was a colonel in the United States Army, who served on active duty from 1941 to 1971.

Leading the men of his company, Schroeder was the first American soldier to come ashore from a landing craft in the D-Day invasion.

[1][8] The 8th Infantry Regiment was ordered to make the initial D-Day landing on Utah Beach as part of the invasion.

[2][9] As they sailed to France from England on the night of June 5 aboard the navy's USS Barnett on the rough English Channel, they heard Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower's exhortation to the troops over the radio, "Together, we shall achieve victory".

Before departing the Barnett to face the enemy, Schroeder wrote a letter to his wife: "I told her where I was, what I was about to do, and how much I loved her".

[10] At 6:28 a.m., two minutes ahead of the time set as H-Hour, Schroeder's unit was in the first wave of 20 LCVPs to disembark on Utah Beach.

[4] Leaving the lead landing craft and carrying a carbine rifle on his left shoulder while holding a .45-caliber pistol above the waist-high water, Schroeder waded the final 100 yards (91 m) from his landing craft to the beach, traversing the remaining distance as quickly as possible due to enemy fire.

[1][3][2] The soldiers encountered machine gun fire from German pillboxes and artillery shelling, underwater mines, barbed wire, and trenches.

[1] After World War II, Schroeder remained in the army as a career officer, serving on active duty for 30 years.

[1][17] Produced by Jean-Christophe Giesbert, Les héros du 6 juin: Le débarquement de 1944 ("The heroes of June 6: the landing of 1944"), is available in French on DVD.

[18] A 50th anniversary cover feature in the French magazine VSD, published June 2, 1994, profiled Schroeder's life and D-Day exploits.

[19] Shortly before his death from emphysema early on the morning of May 26, 2009, Schroeder reflected on his 30 years of military service to the nation, saying he still missed the comradeship and family-like brotherhood of army life.

At televised ceremonies on June 6, 2009, commemorating the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, the Armed Forces Military Museum presented Schroeder's family with a plaque in his memory.