LST (491) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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Y...-ww--W-W---Y-E..-W, -Q ,.., v..,,,, , W ,c ,,,,,w,,,w A OPERATION OVERLORD Allied landings on the Normandie peninsula have been effectively carried out between the hours of 0600 and 0800 both from the sea and from the air supplied by allied warships and planes. Practically all the coastal guns have been silenced and did not prove to be as diffu- cult to silence as had been expected. Effective airborne landings have been carried out be- hind the enemy lines. More than 4,000 ships and 11,000 aircraft are involved in this morn- ing's and yesterday's attacks. General Mont- gomery is in full command of the troops. Dwight D. Eisenhower This certainly was good news and a big cheer came from the troops who were listening attentively while lounging on their vehicles on the main deck. We arrived at the transport area at 1500 on D day, and found the sea covered with ships, and the sky filled with planes. We dispatched our LCVP boats to the boat control ship and then proceeded to unload at Utah Beach. It was quite difficult to off-load as we had to use a rhino ferry. We were all extremely tired as we remained at Battle Stations for a very long period. The Germans came over that night as they did for several nights thereafter, dropping their bombs Non our forces ashore and laying mines in the transport area, where most of our ships were anchored or 'laying to.' On June 7 we moved to the Omaha Beach area as 23