elsie item issue 67 - USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association

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American Bund, for seditious activities. Believingthat war was looming on the horizon in 1940,Henry applied for active duty in the Navy. At thattime he held a commission as Lieutenant in theU.S. Navy Reserves. Due to his legal background,he was assigned to Naval Intelligence.For 18 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor,Henry mailed more than thirty letters requestingsea duty. Finally, in 1943 he was off to amphibioustraining at Solomons, Maryland and his eventualcommand of LCI(L) Group 34. His Flagshipwas LCI(L) 408. (Source: Lindsay Henry andThomas Henry)On D-Day, LCI Group 34 was supposed to land the115th RCT on “Dog Red” and “Easy Green” sectorsin front of “D-3” draw at Les Moulins at9:30AM. However, shortly after 9AM, GeneralOmar Bradley was considering canceling the invasiondue to the carnage and stalemate on thebeaches. Off to Henry’s right front (west) lay“Dog White” sector which was adjacent to hisdesignated landing area. There, two LCIs- CoastGuard 91 and 92 from Flotilla 10 were ablazeafter being destroyed while attempting to landtroops. LCI 91 carrying “B” Company, 147thEngineers and HQ 116th RCT were the first toland in that sector at 7:40AM, followed by LCI92 at 8:10AM carrying “C” Company, 147thEngineers and “A” Company, 7th BeachBattalion. These two burning LCIs were clearwarnings to all who intended to follow. LCI 94,carrying “B” Company, 104th Medical Battalionand the 29th MP Platoon narrowly escaped disasterby landing east of LCI 91 on “Dog Red” sector.(Source: Balkoski)Henry Makes a Decision“Dog Red” was one of Group 34s designatedbeach sectors but the beach in front of LindsayHenry was a mess and he could not locate a controlvessel that would guide them to the beach.Henry signaled the Navy command ship USSAncon and asked for instructions. USS Anconflashed back and instructed him to “Wait”.Lindsay said “Wait Hell, we are going in!” He hada whole regiment loaded on his twelve LCIs; aregiment that was desperately needed in thefight. Henry scanned the beaches with his binocularsin search of a feasible place to land.Standing next to Henry in the Conn was ColonelSlappey, the commander of the 115th RCT.Slappey was very agitated due to the delay inlanding his men. Henry gave him the welcomenews that he would take his troops east towards“Fox Green” sector.One of the soldiers in the crowded Conn was BillyMelander, a “runner” for Colonel Slappey. As thedrama unfolded, Melander heard Lindsay Henryconversing on the Army radio with what hebelieved to be General Bradley’s command ship,the Cruiser USS Augusta. Henry stated his intentionsto land the 115th to the east. Theresponse was that he was the man on the spotand that he would have to get the troops in asbest he could. With that, Henry led his group ofLCIs towards “Fox Green” sector of OmahaBeach. They would not make it quite that far;they would actually land on the eastern third of“Easy Red” sector, adjacent to “Fox Green”.Help was on the way for those struggling on thebeaches designated for the “Big Red One”.Up to this point, Group 34 LCIs had been trackingback and forth off the beach waiting for theirturn to go in. When Henry headed east in hisFlagship, LCI 408, the Skippers of his LCIs dutifullyfollowed him not knowing their destinationwas “Easy Red”. In fact, the after action reportsof those Skippers would note in error that theylanded their troops on their designated beachsectors of “Dog Red” and “Easy Green”.At 10:30AM, as Group 34 headed towards thebeach, the 750 soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 18thRCT, 1st Infantry Division, began landing on“Easy Red”. Most landed to the east of E-1 Drawin LCI 489 and eighteen LCVPs and Company Elanded west of the draw. Their mission was totake out the fortification at the mouth of thedraw. The soldiers of 115th RCT, 29th Divisiondelivered by LCI Group 34 were about to land ontop of the 18th RCT.One of the Skippers of Group 34 was Benjamin12
VanBlake of LCI 540. VanBlake was an excellentskipper who was respected by his crew. He wasno stranger to danger. On October 31, 1941, hewas a Signalman on the Destroyer USS ReubenJames when it became the first U.S. warship torpedoedand sunk by the Germans during WWII.At that time, the United States was officially neutral.The Reuben James was torpedoed while onAtlantic convoy escort duty. VanBlake was one of44 survivors out of a crew of 159.On D-Day, Van Blake descended from the Conn ofLCI 540 and saw the anxiety on the faces of theyoung soldiers of Company L, 3rd Battalion,115th RCT. In the group was 20 year-old PrivateAndrew Crockett, a mortar ammo bearer fromCrisfield, Maryland. Standing nearby was his platoonleader – 2nd Lieutenant Al Ungerleider. Thisyoung officer was destined to be a BrigadierGeneral and veteran of three wars but this wouldbe his first day of combat. Van Blake attemptedto calm the nerves of Ungerleider, Crockett andtheir fellow Company L soldiers by promisingthem a “dry landing”. It was a very bold promiseconsidering the beach obstacles, mortar &artillery fire, wreckage, extreme tides and chaoson the beach. A dry landing was improbable.Lindsay Henry, in LCI 408 led Group 34 towardsthe beach, sailing at ten knots. About three milesoff shore, LCI 408 attracted the attention of theGerman coastal defenses. Artillery rounds landedon both sides of the 408. Henry increasedspeed and a third round narrowly missed the 408astern. (Source: Lindsay & Thomas Henry).Towards the end of the column was LCI 555,nicknamed “Dopey”, her Conn adorned with apainting of the cartoon character. At his battlestation on the bow with #1 Gun – 20 MM was 23year old Lewis W, “Woody” Moyle of New Castle,Delaware. At approximately 2,000 yards fromthe beach he saw a destroyer with her sternawash. Woody thought the destroyer was sinkingbut her forward 5 inch guns were still blazingat the German shore defenses. As Group 34neared the beach, Henry received no instructionsfrom control vessels even though the Skipper ofHenry’s Flagship LCI 408 – Lt (jg) Douglas B.Wright signaled two of them. The situation waschaotic and there were many smaller vesselsmilling about as if there was no command andcontrol. Henry led his first assault to the beachwith eight of his twelve LCIs carrying the 1st and2nd Battalions of the 115th RCT. LCIs 412, 554,411 and 413 respectively would land off to theleft (east) of LC I 408 with the 1st Battalion andLCIs 553, 410 and 409, respectively, would landoff to the right (west) of LCI 408 with theremainder of the 2nd Battalion. LCIs 540, 541,555 and 557 carrying the 3rd Battalion, wouldland shortly thereafter in the second wave.LCI 554 with Company D, and 1st Battalion commander,Lt. Colonel Richard C. Blatt was probablythe first of Group 34 to beach at 11:00AM.Ironically, the lead LCI, Henry’s Flagship, LCI 408carrying Company G and Colonel Slappey withRegimental HQ was the only LCI in the first wavethat had difficulties discharging her troops.Scraping “Element C”, wreckage and stakes onthe way in, she ground to a halt at 11:03AM withher stern resting on a sand bar, still a distancefrom the beach. Within the next few minutes, allLCIs in the first wave except LCI 408 were placingtheir troops ashore.Quartermaster 2nd Class John D. Coombs was atthe helm of LCI 554 as it ploughed through theobstacles of Omaha Beach. It was his 19thbirthday but he had no time to celebrate. Hestood in the pilot house with eighteen year oldSeaman 2nd Class Wesley May from Woodstock,Connecticut. They were supposed to have thesplinter shields closed but they left them open sothey could see where they were going throughthe port holes. The Skipper, Lt (jg) Edmund B.Koehler shouted commands to them from theConn through voice tubes. LCI 554 landed theirtroops between LCIs 412 and 411 in approximatelytwo feet of water near the “shingle” ofstones at the top of the beach. Eighteen year oldCoxswain John Sapienza of Newark, New Jerseymanned the starboard ramp. As he lowered theramp, he saw Stewards Mate Lassiter, sitting ontwo boxes of hand grenades and praying out loudfor the soldiers of Company D who began theirdescent to the water. Lassiter was LCI 554s13
Page 3 and 4: From the Editor/PresidentPortland,
Page 5 and 6: A Special Message to My Fellow Affi
Page 7 and 8: Letters to the EditorJohn,I enjoyed
Page 9 and 10: The Fortunate Redirection:Landing C
Page 11: Reproduced from D-Day, by Stephen E
Page 15 and 16: Signalman Jack Gale stood on the Co
Page 17 and 18: The stern anchor let out by LCI 553
Page 19 and 20: Mate Second Class Walter “Buck”
Page 21 and 22: The last two sailors to get off LCI
Page 23 and 24: The Rest of the Story!John France T
Page 25 and 26: with a “V” for valor among othe
Page 27 and 28: THE 2009 LCI CALENDAR!A GREAT COLLE
Page 29 and 30: A HEARTENING RESPONSE!LCIers Rally
Page 31 and 32: USS LCI NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONAPPLICA

elsie item issue 67 - USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association

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