The Only Black D-Day Unit—Erased From Every Movie Every D-Day movie you've seen erases them. Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, The Longest Day—none show the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only Black combat unit to land on Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944. According to U.S. Army after-action reports and National Archives records, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion—an all-African American unit of approximately 500 men—landed on Omaha Beach at H 3 hours (approximately 9:30 AM) and Utah