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Most of us slept in our vehicles. At least it was warm where they were. The only way into them was a small ladder and opening just large enough to get through. If it was warm enough some slept on deck. Every night we stayed on deck till almost mid-night and watched the bombers go over then we would wait and see how many came back. We could tell by the formation if any were missing and there usually was.
After loading we pulled out into the channel to wait for the rest to join us. While passing out a large balloon was tied to each ship. It was on a cable and flew about 200 feet above the ship. That was to keep enemy planes from strafing the ship. The second day out we were issued life belts. They had two little cylinders of compressed gas which when broken would inflate the belt. These were to be worn till we landed on the beach in France. We were all lucky and didn’t have to use them.
We weren’t long in coming to the battle area as one could see parts of
ships sticking out of the water as we passed. They weren’t part of our
convoy though. As we crossed the channel the ship had to travel in a
marked path as we were passing through a mine field all the time. Mine
sweepers were at the head of each lane to pick up any stray mines. We
were given pills to take in case the water was rough, and it sure was
rough, the pills did help.
During our crossing the vehicles worked loose. Mine had about 18
inches of slack and it used all of it as the ship rocked. It didn’t
make a very good bed to sleep on. I finally blocked mine with sand
bags that we had to carry. We had to carry nine in each vehicle. They
were to help take up the shock in case we ran over a mine. After a few
days out a lone German plane would come over every night and drop a
bomb. One came close enough to splash water up on the deck of our
ship. The second try he was shot down by the ship’s guns. The next
night another took his place though.
By now we were over the horizon and could begin to see what it was all
about. In the distance we could see the smoke and fire of the guns and
hear the noise in the distance. We figured we were then about 13 miles
from shore. We were moving closer all the time though and soon were
where we could see all that was going on at first hand. The night we
anchored still about 5 miles out orders came through to silence all
guns as a large flight of our planes were to go over and bomb the
coast. We later found out that the order was given by the Germans and
they were the ones that sent the bombers over. One bomb landed so
close it made the ship buck. Only a few minutes later the silence had
been lifted and the sky lighted up like a Fourth of July celebration
with hot lead from the ships guns. We had the pleasure of seeing the
plane shot down and burned that had dropped the bomb on us.
The next morning we could see a ship to our right sinking. With
glasses we identified it as the one carrying our 2nd Battalion. We
learned that it had hit a mine. In two hours it was under the water.
All men on board were saved though but they didn’t save any equipment.
That morning we moved to Utah beach and then were in range of the shore
guns. They weren’t a bit backward about using them on us either. The
only trouble was that they couldn’t quite get the range. We could see
the shells splash in the water each getting a little closer till we
were sure the next would hit the ship. But the next would just go over
us and land on the other side then they would start all over again.
This went on all day and the planes again at night.
The next morning we started to unload. During the night a plane
dropped a bomb that landed about two hundred yards from us so no damage
and the plane was shot down. Another came over and dropped a flare
they are so intensely white that it makes one feel necked as a jay
bird. That plane was also shot down. But the excitement wasn’t over
as some one spread the gas alarm. All our masks had been water proofed
and so were air tight. A few seconds later they weren’t though. The
gas alarm was just a scare so we had to waterproof the masks again. We
had a good laugh at some who had forgotten about the masks being
waterproofed and almost suffocated before they remembered it.
The next day we and the vehicles we were driving were loaded onto LCI,
Landing Craft Inf, boats and run in as close to the beach as they could
get. During this time the German planes and artillery were continually
throwing lead at us. Our foot troops were already on the beach and the
vehicles were unloaded last.
During the unloading of our equipment a German plane intent on strafing
us was shot down and in his power dive for the water he missed the LCI
by a very small margin. I know because I was on it. I believe I could
have touched the plane as it went under if I had tried. Anyway nothing
was damaged. A few minutes later we were transported to within about a
hundred yards of the beach and from there we had to drive the vehicles
in the water to the beach. The water was deep enough to cover the jeep
I was driving so I drove to the beach with only my head, part of the
steering wheel and chest above water. We had the sharp whine of
machine gun bullets, the racket of the planes and shore guns to sooth
our nerves as we made the wet landing. For this landing was why the
vehicles had all been water proofed in England.
All our equipment got in without mishap except on jeep which ran into a
shell hole and sank out of sight. The driver waded out and we got the
jeep later. We all ended up at our collecting area late that night.
Three of us drivers were together and were turned into a field by a
guard. We were the only ones there and still didn’t know where the
rest of the company were located. As there was nothing we could do we
rolled up into our wet blankets and slept till morning then found out
our company was located just across the road from us.
To be continued in next week's installment.
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