"I remember D-Day, June 6, 1944" Topic

I was 7 at the time, and was used to visiting ladies on my "block" – in the 18,000 Pennsylvania coal town where I lived – to pick up newspapers one day; washed-out, flattened tin cans the next; and haul them in my little red steel wagon up to the junk dealer at the edge of town, about 4 blocks away. He used to give me a nickel (5 cent piece), and I'd run over to Woolworth's 5 & 10 cent store and buy a lead toy soldier! I became addicted to lead (soldiers) at that time!

My dad ran the projector at one of the 3 movie houses in town, and took me with him every Saturday to see the cowboy double feature; newsreels of WWII (I though Rommel was the hero of an on-going serial like Buck Rodgers in the 21st Century!.

I remember Dad telling me about the Normandy invasion, and I was very concerned that the war could be over before I had a chance to fight!

We did not know this at the time:

link

GdeP

My Dad was about 19 then and being a coal miner was retained down the pit as a Bevin Boy.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bevin_Boys

One of my uncles was off the invasion beaches about D-Day +6 lifting corpses out of the water. He was in an air sea rescue unit of the RAF.

We are fortunate in my generation that we never had to experience this ourselves.

Your dad was a coal miner he fought as hard and was in as much danger as anyone on the front lines and more than those in the rear.

My father in law was floating offshore in one of the six LCT(E) as chief engineering petty officer for all the landing craft on one of the beaches (though he had no idea which beach!), supervising the repair of landing craft as they came off the beach, before going back in.

Before he died four years ago he told me that he saw some skippers come back three, four, five or more times, with ever-increasing amounts of battle damage until eventually some never returned. They were true heroes – running the gauntlet time and time again with successive waves and in some cases fighting on the beach as infantry when their craft got sunk, though he never heard of any of his comrades receiving gallantry medals.

Thank God for them….

My family members weren't part of the Normandy invasion….My uncle Alex was in Italy at the time, and would go on to win 2 purples hearts, 1 bronze star and a silver star (He was a PFC in an engineer company), and came home with some devastating wounds….

My other uncles were all Over in the Pacific….

My Father in Law's brother was on a Sherman in France and was wounded when the tank was hit. His crew bailed out and they were taking cover in a ditch, and ended up being machine-gunned by the SS. He's buried in one of the cemeteries in France….

God bless them and may we never have to do this again….

Thanks for the Bevin Boy link, that was informative.

My Dad saw the invasion fleet from the deck of the USS Card, the carrier that he was flying from. He said that it was the biggest most amazing bunch of ships that he ever saw. He said that the fleet stretched as far as he could see.

My Father in law was in A co 149th Engineer Battalion. I never asked him while he was alive and only heard a few stories He wanted to tell. I've been trying to track down any accounts of what his unit did and yesterday finally found some information.
link

Hello, 14Bore:

A great, and informative link! Quite a tragedy, with the loss of over 700 men in 4 LST' to the attacks of German E boats.

By the way, I now live in Montgomery County, PA, as you do. parisguard at suddenlink dot net.

GdeP

My father was too young and my grandfather too old (and suffering from a WW1 wound) so no direct involvement from my family. My grandfather's younger half-brother was in the paras and was killed a number of day's post D-Day fighting off a German counter-attack.
Jemima Fawr – a friend of my father's was also an engineering CPO for an LCT flotilla. The LCT he was on had developed engine problems just before leaving the UK, so he'd jury-rigged the engine and spent his D-Day "down below" still tinkering with it when the LCT got stuck fast on the southern extremity of Utah beach.

My dad was working in the factory that built the Waco gliders used by the airborne forces on D-Day. One of my uncles was there, although I don't remember in what capacity.

One of the great days of all time.

BMB,

Really? RN? I wonder if he was also on an LCT(E) – there were only six in the entire fleet and it was a hell of a job trying to find a photo of one (which I did, thanks to the power of TMP).

Harry spent the entire day a very long way off shore – the battle was over the horizon, though they could hear it very clearly.

The day before D-Day his LCT(E) was in Portsmouth, but they needed to go over to Gosport to scrounge some parts. He and his mate took a rowing boat, went across, got the parts and then decided to 'nip in for a quick one' before heading back. Several pints and sheets to the wind later, they staggered back to find that someone had nicked their boat! Being ratted, they decided to swim across (being Commando trained, they'd swum Scottish lochs, so how difficult could it be)…

…Half way across they were struggling and thought they were going to drown, when a USN DUKW turned up and hauled them out. He assured me that he held on to the vital engine part the whole time! :)

hit another payday. timetable for Omaha landings.
link
Found at least the bulk of A co 149th Engineers on H.70
1182 LCI(L)534 LCI (L)90 on Easy Green

My Dad saw the invasion fleet from the deck of the USS Card, the carrier that he was flying from. He said that it was the biggest most amazing bunch of ships that he ever saw. He said that the fleet stretched as far as he could see.

This is an interesting statement.

Is it possible he mis-remembered the ship he was attached to at that particular time?

CVE-11 USS Card was a very successful escort carrier, with several successful sub-hunting cruises, with earned 3 battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation.

The information I have found shows she carried TBM Avengers and FM-2 Wildcats of VC-1 (mostly in 1943) and VC-9 (mostly in 1944 and 45).

But the information I can find indicates she was not present at D-Day.

From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

From 18 March to 17 May Card operated on transport duty between Norfolk and Casablanca, then underwent overhaul until 4 June when she steamed for Quonset Point to hold pilot qualification exercises. She returned to Norfolk 21 June to serve as the nucleus of TG 22.10. The hunter-killer unit departed Norfolk 25 June and on 5 July two of her escorts, Thomas (DE-102) and Baker (DE-190), sank U-233 in 42°16' N., 59°49' W. Thirty survivors including the fatally wounded commanding officer of the submarine were taken on board Card who put them ashore at Boston the next day.

Of course I was not there either, so all I have is what I've found.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)