LCI (542) - Naval Cruise Book

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8 1 june 1944 was loading day, for hours the Tamar buzzed with LCVPS bringing the troops up from Plymouth to our LCls and also to the square-conned Mediterranean veterans that were to be part of the Utah Beach assault force. f0ur group of 13 LCIS was assigned to Follow-up Force Baker and scheduled to land its troops 12 hours after H-Hour.j At 1322 Company E, 26th Infantry, First Division, First Army, began to come aboard-193 men and 9 officers under the command of Captain Ozell Smootg they were tough, battle-hardened veterans of Africa and Sicily, and their quiet conidence was: hearten- ing to us. That afternoon Pvt. Akins went regretfully ashore, having been an adopted member of the crew for ten days. The ship- was sealed, and we w.ere ready to go g all hands knew the destination was France, since our guests lost no time in displaying their 100-franc notes. The day had not been decided upo-ng so we waited. Half of Lt. Com. Henry's Group had left to join the Coast Guard LCIS in the Omaha assault force, and the 419 had also departed after conversion into an army headquarters ship. 'There was a false start on june 3, when all ships got under way in a rush, only to anchor in Iennycliff Bay for the night and return. Finally, at 1215 on 5 June, we slipped the cable and proceeded down the Tamar to anchor in formation in Cawsand Bay. Shortly afterwards an RAF barge came alongside and tied a barrage balloon to the fantil, which floated just above the top of the mast. At last the word came: 6 june was to be D-Day. Promptly at 0030 on that day we sailed from Plymouth in formation of two co-lumns as Task Gro-up 126.3. LCH 414 was the flagship, in company were LCICLJS 401, 403, 415, 416, 417, 418, 420, 537, 538, 539, 542 and 556. All night we steamed at full speed Q14 knotsj along the coast of Southern England, the DE MALOY, Force Flagship, the AKA ACHERNAR, and an LSD joined us, together with some corvettes and a rescue cutter. The voyage was rough but suffered no enemy inter'- ference. At 1315 the Cherbourg Peninsula was sighted 5 two- hours later we entered the assembly area off Gmaha Beach and anchored. Conditio-ns were confused, loaded landing craft, rescue craft, patrol vessels, and small boats weaved aimlessly in and out among the. anchored ship-s. German artillery was shelling the landing forces, while allied destroyers, close in, returned the fire. Farther offshore to port lay a large French cruiser, her decks filled with civilians and a gigantic tricolor Hying from her stern. It was obvious from the number of assault force ships still lying to fully loaded that the situation on the beach was precarious and that our landing would have more of the character of an assault than of the peaceful reinforcement we had expected. After being anchored only four minutes, we started for the smoke-shrouded beach 3

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7 us past it and up into the shallow reaches of the River Plymg it .was finally necessary to drop the bow anchor in order to turn the ship into the wind. On 4 May came the first real indication of the coming invasion, some of the ships had been out on maneuvers, but the 542 had not. Now we were told to strip ship and attempt a beaching trim. - All that day and the next we loaded spare parts and supplies into an LCVP for storage in a tent ashore. Much of it was never seen again. Since it was thought that the LCIS would load their troops at Harvey's Wharf, QAB, we practiced docking there on three different-days. We also beached at Whitsand Bay 5 o-n 11, May, while approaching the beach, the electric steering gave out, and Lt. Com. Brown almo-st restricted the ship. On the 13th another anti-aircraft practice outside the harbor was cancelledg so casualty drills were held instead, during which every- one in our conn had to play dead. Despite a strong wind on May 16 we managed to maneuver alongside St. Budeaux Hard long enough to get fuel and water, but in returning to T-15 nudged the newly con- verted LCH 520 and crumpled her ventilating intake o-n the gundeck- the first of many collisions. A few days later the 419, to- which we were moored, provided some excitement by losing the mooring ,cable and casting both ships adrift, together with some small boats along- side. That afterno-on another anti-aircraft p-ractice was cancelled due to bad weather, we were getting scant opportunity to become good gun- ners-nopractice s-ince shakedown. Saturday, May 20, after Captain's Inspection the irst photographs of the crew were taken. 22 May a full supply of army K and C-rations were put aboard, and Pvt. Zimrie Akins reported to guard them. Things were begin- ning to happen, for that afterno-on all of Flotilla 12 sailed for Fowey, a pre-invasion diversion move, by 2200 the 542' was moored to LST 56 in Fowey Harbor. There followed a week-of fine weather in a quiet, peaceful and beautiful corner of Cornwall, a week which was the more appreciated because of the battle that everyone knew was now not far off. Small things meant much and were lo-ng remembered: Wicks' favorite record No Letter Todayv which W0kC US at reveille and ran as continuous-ly as the generator 5 the five gallons of fresh milk, the only real milk we tasted While away from 11011163 the brief visit of Lt. Co-m. H. V. Say of the Navy Public Relations Department, the spectacular air raid on Falmouth about midnight ofthe 29th, which from our distance looked like the Fourth of july. Then 011 the 30th we returned to- Saltash, mooring to T-14 with 418 and 420. T116 11CXt day Lt. Kutz came aboard with five men, Donohue, Mulle11S, BFOWI1, Collett and Walker, to arrange the billeting of our invasion cargo. .

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9 all hands had donned anti+gas suits, and we went to general quarters at 1647. Soon the ship was lying to about 3,000 yards off FOX Green B-each-Easy Red, Our' scheduled landing beach, was too cluttered to use. On signal from the 420 all twelve ships of the task- group made for the beach at 1735. At 1800 the 542 struck a sand barg ramps were lowered and the troops ordered aft while we tried to shove over without success, Roberts volunteered and jumped into the deep water first from one ramp and then the other in a vain attempt to carry a lifeline ashore. After ten minutes the ship hauled off for another try and at 1826 beached successfully closer in, just to starboard ofthe 417. The tide was low but coming in fast, most of the beach obstacles were exposed, although some were close under our bow. Almost dead ahead the Coast Guard LCI 93 was high and dry but with 'her engines going now that the tide was returning. As we dropp-ed our ramps and Company E began to disembark, the beach was under sporadic mortar, artillery and automatic weapon fire. Several Nazi aircraft dropped window and bombed the beach to port. Meanwhile our destroyers con- tinued their close-in bombardment. All went well with the 542 for five minutes, until the 418, minus her anchor, attempted to beach close aboard to starboard. She did not succeed, and the current swiftly carried her down up-on us. She started to retract, but caught her port sponson on our starb-oard fantail chock, throwing our stern over against the 417. Our gasoline drum was bro-ached, and Mr. Hand jettisoned it, cutting loose the barrage balloon at the same time, since it was attracting enemy 88mm fire. At 1840 the port ramp was disabled, and three minutes later the starboard one carried away. By this time we were very close to the 417, while the 418 had maneuvered astern, remaining entangled in our anchor cable, which only the skill of Wicks prevented from parting. Finally at 1846 the 418 was clear, we commenced retract- ing, and just in time, for a salvo of 88mm shells landed where the three ships had been seconds before, doing further damage to the luckless 93. The 542 had been beached for twenty minutes under fire and still had over a score of her passengers aboard. Half an hour later an LCM was located, which took them off. It was later learned, in a letter from the Colonel commanding the 26th Infantry, that the troops landed by our task group were the first to reach their D-Day objectives on Omaha Beach. ' ' As soon as the last soldier had departed, we made tracks for the 414 to report, only to- be sent out to the Assault Flagship U. S. S. ANCON in the Assembly Area for further orders, which were to stand by in the area. At 2320, while we were still under way, a bfiSk Cneml' air raid on beach and anchorage commenced. We steamed for twenty