We returned to Norfolk, it was New Years Day 1944 and I was granted leave. Was able to get home and enjoy mothers Great Cooking. While on leave, ran into Les Saunderlin , a fellow I knew who lived in Quinton and we swapped Sea Stories.Learned he was on the Destroyer Rowan, when it took a hit by a German Sub and sank. Said was then assigned to the USS Henrico, APA 45, which was in our Fleet. Found out we were traveling together and did not know it.
When I returned to the Dickman, we took on cargo and returned to England, at Slapton Sands, where we began preparing for the Normandy Invasion. We practiced small scale landings on the British coast and made five full scale landings at Slapton Sands, where the beaches were similar to those at Normandy.
On one occasion, a group of our barges had delivered troops to the beach and were returning to the ship. In the area, were four British Spitfire Fighter Planes and they decided it was Fun Time. They would dive down over the barges and came so close, we could see the pilots faces, as they laughed. On one of the passes, one of the planes flew too close and when he banked, his wing tipped the ramp of one of the barges. He lost control and dove into the water, resulting in a big ball of fire.The rest of the group disappeared. We drove over to where the plane went down but a couple of British Crash Boats arrived and shooed us away. I have often wondered, what kind of report was made on that incident.
General Dwight Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander for the Normandy Invasion and he set a date for June 5,1944. The landing was code named Neptune, which included five assault areas,named Sword assigned to the British troops, Juno to Canadian Infantry, Gold was also British, Omaha was American ,as was Utah. While the Allies were preparing an assault on the French coast, the Germans were preparing to push them back into the sea. The Germans knew there was to be a landing but did not know where or when. The French coast was well fortified. On the beach they planted obstacles, consisting of sharpened wooden poles and three steel bars welded together called hedgehogs. Behind the beaches they planted mines and built concrete reinforced pill boxes, to house their artillery. Allied Intelligence kept a pretty close watch on the German preparation and noted a couple of errors. First they planned their defences to repel a landing at High Tide, so that they lay exposed at Low Water. It was decided the first waves would land at low tide, with Army Engineers,whose task it was to clear the obstacles and mark paths, so that the in coming barges would have a clear run to the beach. The other error was their defences were concentrated in the Pas de Calais area, which was only 24 miles from the British coast, while Normandy was 80 miles across.
On May 24 we reported to Falmouth , England, which was our base of operations. On June 2, 130 officers and 1800 enlisted men, were embarked for the coming operation. Falmouth was a small port and had no room for the many ships, loading for this operation. The Dickman had to load troops using barges. We would pick up the troops, then they would climb aboard, via the nets.
Preparations continued. The Army Intelligence group came aboard and gave a last minute report on what was on Utah Beach. They had Charts. Photo’s and Models of the beach. and we received a detailed briefing. After they left, all ships were placed on Lock Down. No one was permitted to leave. Security was tight.
Turned out weather was a big factor, was stormy with rough seas in the channel and Gen Eisenhower decided to delay the landing until June 6, since conditions were predicted to improve. At 4:00 AM on June 6 all boats went in the water. Those in the Davits were loaded, then dropped in the water, while the rest were loaded via the debarkation nets. No easy task in rough seas. All barges ran over to their assigned areas, then ran around in circles, waiting till all boats were loaded. The troops in the boats were taking a beating, were not used to bobbing around in heavy seas and most were sick, along with getting soaked by the seas coming over the bow. At 0500 the signal was given and we headed to the beach, had 12 miles to go. The ships were anchored off shore, out of he range of the guns on the beach. We passed the Battleship Nevada, on our route and they were firing their 16 inch guns. Could see the projectiles, as they left the muzzle and sailed over our heads. As we got closer, saw more Navy Ships firing their big guns. Rockets from the Rocket Firing Barges were Swishing overhead. and we prayed we didn’t get hit, by those falling short. The sky was covered with bombers heading to the beaches. I read one reporters description, said it was,” the Greatest Fireworks Display Ever ” and I totally agree. Was hard to believe there was anything left on beach, after that pounding but there was fire coming from those pill boxes and boats were getting hit. We passed troops clinging to wreckage but could not stop to pick them up. At 1000 yards off the beach, our Wave got the signal from the Control Boat and it was full speed to the beach. Fortunately we were able to to give our troops a good landing but other boats were not so lucky, landed at spots with giant holes, caused by the bombing, resulting in troops having to wade through deep water.
After debarking the troops we backed down and headed to the Dickman. On our way we picked up four troops out of the water. All but seven of our boats made it back, were either swamped or damaged by gunfire. The ship took on thee dead and 154 casualties that were treated in our Sick Bay. We left Utah Beach and returned to Falmouth, where we unloaded the casulties and took on cargo, to return to Utah. This time conditions were much improved .
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