I was commissioned to paint our mascot on the side of our ship—a pelican.
Prior to the Normandy invasion, we were stationed at a base in Bizerte, North Africa. For 6 months, we endured almost daily and nightly bombing and strafing. The sound of constant sirens and practically living in air raid shelters is still fresh in my memory. We could not fire our guns for fear of hitting our fighter planes that were waging the air war above. I remember running at night with a group of buddies to an air raid shelter and hearing bullets hitting the tar road all around us. It sounded like a hard rain.
Later, we were re-assigned from Northern Africa to Devin, Southern England where we would remain until the invasion. There were constant rumors among the crew about something big coming up. Some guys were saying that we’d be sailing back to the States. I guess we were in denial of invading France. There were 241 ships in our particular flotilla—battleships, cruisers, destroyers, infantry ships and more—all loading shells and supplies.
We knew there was a major operation being planned, but we never, at the time, heard of “Operation Overlord”. “Overlord” being the code-name for the invasion of France. We didn’t know it was set for June 5th. Because of a storm, Operation Overlord was postponed for one day. All night long there was a steady stream of ships sailing for France. The French, British, Irish, Canadians and Americans were a single, massive, unstoppable unit.
As I said, as an LCI, our job was to bring the Army to Omaha beach at Normandy. We were scheduled to land in the second wave, but it soon became apparent that there were no “waves”. Timing and plans were all mixed up. Troops were pinned down on the beach as more landing craft were coming in. There was nowhere for anyone to go. We couldn’t go back into the sea and the Germans held the high ground with well-reinforced bunkers with massive 88-millimeter guns. As we approached the beach, we hit a mine, which blew a two-foot by two-foot hole in the hull. The harsh reality of war had hit us. Luckily, there were no casualties, and we stuffed GI blankets into the hole to keep out the sea. We kept going toward the beach. Our boat was being inundated by gunfire and within minutes, an 88 shell hit us. It was a massive explosion just several feet from me that lifted the boat right out of the water from the force. We were stunned to see so many soldiers on our boat killed and wounded. Twenty-three men were killed and wounded. They never even made it off the boat and most of them were barely 20 years old. We continued toward the beach. I prayed all the way in. The beach was littered with what looked like driftwood, but as we got closer I realized it was dead bodies. It was a race to the beach since the tide was coming in and we had to get the Army off the boat so they could push inland before the tide hit the seawall.
The seawall was about 10 to 12 feet high. When we got closer the beach, we started lowering our ramps to let the troops out. LCI’s have two ramps, one port side and one starboard. The ramp on the starboard side jammed and the soldiers were anxious to get off the boat. After several minutes, we got it open and the troops went down the ramp and started wading into shore. After the troops got off, we abandoned ship because we were sitting ducks on board. Our crew went in with the troops wading in chest to neck high water to get to the beach. We also got all the wounded off. There were four of us to every one wounded soldier carried in to the beach, all the time going toward the gunfire all around us.
USS LCI (L) 83
Disembarking troops on Omaha Beach, Normandy France, June 6th, 1944
We were hit by heavy artillery and beached the ship after hitting a mine.
After disembarking the troops and wounded, we abandoned ship.
Finally, on the beach, soldiers and sailors were all crowded and pinned down at the seawall. Most men were stunned, soaked, disoriented and some still seasick. Officers were yelling, “Get going in! Get off the beach!” We had no protection against the mortars and straight firing that went overhead. We faced an enemy dedicated to pushing us back into the sea. We had to leave the wounded on the open beach. Only the medics were allowed to go to them. New troops kept coming in and getting trapped with us.
Then tanks and artillery started coming in on big LSTS. There was no way to stop the flood of men and equipment from landing and seeking shelter behind the already overcrowded seawall as the tide also kept coming in. One of the most horrible sounds that I will never forget was that of a wounded man futilely screaming for his life while being crushed by one of our oncoming tanks because he couldn’t get out of the way and no one could help him.
While trapped behind the seawall, we witnessed a fantastic duel between an American destroyer and a German 88 millimeter gun. The destroyer came in as far as possible without running aground and ran parallel to the beach, all the time firing its great guns at the 88. Then it would turn around and fire from the other side as the first guns reloaded. This went on for some time, going back and forth until the destroyer hit the 88 and knocked it out permanently. An overwhelming cheer went up from our troops and we were thankful for the fearless captain and crew of the USS Doyle.
Some troops finally broke through and started inland. Our crew was scattered along the sea wall and many men were missing. After about three hours, I was shocked when the captain and three officers came over and said we were going to try to get back to the boat. We had orders to leave the wounded but if any walking wounded came, then we let them onboard. We had a Pharmacists Mate (a sailors’) on our ship. It was difficult getting back because of the heavy equipment, tanks, bulldozers, etc. coming in.
By this time, the fighting on Normandy had calmed down. We saw about 3,000 German prisoners on the beach waiting to be brought to England. There was a German plane still burning on Omaha beach. It was one of only two planes that defended the entire coast from the invading allies.
We were able to find some mattresses and blankets that we used to cover the mine hole in the hull of out LCI, and we set off to return to England. On the way back, a British ship was assigned to escort us. As we went, the boat started sinking and listing to the side. We threw almost everything overboard to lighten the load. The escort ship called for us to abandon ship, but we refused. We were able to pull along side a larger ship and transferred all the dead and wounded to it. We finally arrived that evening in South Hampton harbor. On the dock, many reporters and civilians gathered around us asking for information about the invasion.
Our LCI went into dry dock for repairs, which gave me a chance to go on liberty for a couple of days. My brother Joe came to see me and we went to Scotland on liberty together. He was in the Merchant Marines serving in the North Atlantic. Their mission was to resupply the Soviet Union. On one such run, my brother’s ship was sunk by a German U-boat torpedo in the North Sea. The convoy he was in was left as sitting ducks when the British escort ships were reassigned. Only 11 of the 34 merchant ships reached port. Twenty-four were sunk, along with 153 mariners and Armed Guard, 250,000 tons of war materiel, including 3,500 trucks, 200 aircraft and 435 tanks. As a results, some lifeboats brought mariners to German-occupied Norway where they became POWs. Some survivors spent up to 3 weeks on rafts and open lifeboats and lost limbs to frostbite. My brother Joe was credited for saving several lives while in the freezing water waiting for rescue.
[Through the Murmansk Run, the United States Merchant Marines supplied the Soviet Union with 15,000 aircraft, 7,000 tanks, 350,000 tons of explosives, and 15,000,000 pairs of boots. American boots made a difference on the Eastern Front, especially during the harsh winters. .]
After the repairs were finished on our ship, we made several trips shuttling troops across the channel from England to Normandy and bringing the dead and wounded back to England. One of the worst jobs I had was helping to carry and load the dead onto the boat. The bodies were stiff and bloated with rigor mortis. The horrendous stench of decaying flesh permeated the air. Many of the wounded had missing limbs and open wounds. It was a gruesome job. I had to distance myself emotionally and mentally from what I was doing.
June 6th, 1944 was indeed the most prolific and unforgettable day of my life. I’ve recently seen several pictures of that day with our LCI in it. There is also a short segment in a film with our LCI in it. For the entire length of the war only four LCIs were sunk. All of them were on D-Day. This included our sister ship, the “87”.
So our whole flotilla sailed back to the US. We were to be relieved. Each man needed to be relieved by one man. Since I was a signalman, I had to be relieved by a signalman, so I was one of the last to be relieved. I was then stationed in Philadelphia until my discharge in 1946.
In 1999, 55 years later, I received a French Medal of Liberty from the French government for my assistance in the liberation of France.
Now for a few of our memories:
Those of you who were lucky enough to know my dad know that there wasn't a hurtful bone in his body. He was a kind, gentle, humble and funny man with the courage shared by the incredible service men and women of the armed forces... indeed heroes to the world.
A couple things to add that I remember him telling us when we were kids... before they were immortalized in movies; like the man he saw wondering aimlessly on the beach while under fire. He was looking for his arm that was just blown off. This was later shown in the movie "Saving Private Ryan".
And after they landed and abandoned ship and were pinned down on the beach... how a Army officer was yelling "Pick up a rifle! You're in the Army now!"
Dad was separated from his unit after they abandoned ship. For several hours no one knew where he was. They were going to report him MIA. When reunited with his unit, he, of course, said he was shacked up with a French girl. That was dad.
And there was the story of his friend the boxer while on night watch on the ship. I don't remember his name, but he was huge guy who looked after my dad (who was no slouch either). You can't imagine the amount of testosterone on the ships filled with trained killers anxious for a fight. If they couldn't fight the enemy, they fought each other. At least until they met the enemy, then they were brothers to the end.
His sons.... Greg, Michael and Kevin and wife Mary
