LST (491) - Naval Cruise Book

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an 4 W fo. ff . Ji fc A, if I . ' f -3, 55 u Q A .wi their' equipment and vehicles. We were all set to go on June 4, but because of bad weather D day was moved ahead one day. So we remained at anchor to await the signal to move. On the night of june 4, a group of German bombers attacked the city of Tor- Quay, fthe British Atlantic City Resortl, killing 140 persons. Our anchorage was only live miles from this spot, and it was lucky for us that the jerry Boys didn't see us. We had aboard two Chaplains, a Catholic and a Protestant, and each held divine services before sailing time. The chaplains remarked that some of the tough- est sergeants among the Army passengers aboard came to church that day, and we know that a goodly number of Naval personnel were also there for the first time. 1 EAQSTWARD no! -- DESTINATION U. Kg B .s'fl'w K-15 ,rl 'Q' .11- -nm' N . f . . ln, ,. x V ala 7. yn ' 1 v 1

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THE o1.' nounuz TROUBLE We sailed the following morning to Salcome, tow. ing an LCT as far as Dartmouth. Salcome is a small town with a population of about 3,000 people. Before the war this town was a seaside resort where people came for their vacations. We had to lay to and await high tide as it was impossible to enter the bay at low tide. As we started through this narrow channel our steering mechanism failed and we had to shift to hand steering. It was a difficult situation, but the skipper handled it nicely. After entering, the ship had to be turned with bow down stream and secured to mooring buoys mid- stream. Six LST's were moored in this small channel and occasionally one would go aground at low tide. Our new Group Commander, Commander W. S. Blair, USNR, reported aboard on May 17. We spent our time in Salcome, training, cleaning the ship and going ashore. We all learned a great deal from Doctor Lawrence's lectures on poison gases. It was believed that the Nazis might resort to gas warfare and thus we did not want to be caught unprepared. While at Salcome the follow- ing men were received aboard: Iaggi, G. E., MoMM2!c3 Welge, B. E., Coxwaing Jolly, R. E., MoMM2fcg and Strohmaier, C. E., MoMM Z! c. One evening we received a message from Admiral Kirk, which was addressed to all American Naval personnel. After chow the Captain called all hands to quarters on the tank deck and read Admiral Kirk's message. The ship was then sealed and we knew then that D day was not far away. On May 31, all of the LST's in Salcome sailed for Brixham, Where we proceeded to the hard and loaded the 252nd Airborne Headquarters Company, U. S. Army, and 20 S ' !

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gf' HQKFWFAHW 5 Gperation Uverlord We sailed in convoy C36 LST'sj on the morning of june 5. It was quite an exciting day for all of us as we knew that the following day would be a bloody one. All of the LST's were loaded to capacity with men and cargo and we proceeded towards the coast of France in perfect formation. That evening a fleet of combatant ships, QBattleships, Cruisers, and Destroyersj was sighted on the horizon astern. They were part of the task force which sailed from Belfast, Ireland, and as they passed the following signal came to Commander Blair from Admiral Kirk, who was aboard the flagship U.S.S. Au- gusta, You look good. As the British Battleship War- spite passed we noticed that everybody seemed to be topside and we heard their famous Three Cheers come our way. It seemed a bit more comforting to have those big boys out ahead leading the way. We knew that their job was to come first in that they would bom- bard the coastal invasion beaches and give protection to the assault ships and boats. Une of their primary tar- gets would be to knock out the coastal guns and pill boxes which housed the famous German 88 and other guns. Cn the morning of June 6 about 1100, we re- ceived the following message by radio from the Supreme Commander, General Eisenhower: 22