elsie item issue 67 - USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association

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cleared channel. LCI 410 with Company F, 2ndBattalion followed suit and established the rightflank of the first wave of Group 34 as they headedfor shore.While LCIs 412, 554, 411 and 413 landed the1st Battalion, LCIs 408, 553, 409 and 410 landedthe 2nd Battalion. James Leaken was 25years old and Signalman 2nd Class on LCI 409.He attended high school in Los Angeles andenlisted in the Navy with his twin brother, Jack.He stood on the Conn of LCI 409 next to hisSkipper Lt.(jg.) Gurney as the LCI beached at11:03AM. His Skipper had been an employee ofSears & Roebuck prior to the war and appearedto be “the nervous type”. Artillery rounds werestriking nearby off the right side of the 409 andLeaken hoped his inexperienced Skipper wouldget them through this. Joseph Lesko, Seaman,2nd Class, was on the bow manning #1 Gun –20MM. Born in Osceola Mills, Pennsylvania, hewas eighteen years old on D-Day. He could seean enemy pillbox on the hill and watched a Navydestroyer engage it with gunfire. As the troopsof Company E scrambled down the two ramps ofthe 409, Lesko could hear the Executive Officer,James Patrick Gilligan screaming over the din ofbattle “Keep them moving!” Company E formedthe right flank of the 2nd Battalion. By11:11AM, Gurney was retracting LCI 409 off thebeach and in the process ran over the wreckageof an LCVP which fouled his stern anchor cable.Despite the obstacle, the “nervous” skipper gothis crew off the beach safe and sound.To the left (east) of LCI 409, Ensign Lewis R.Claar, the Skipper of LCI 410, beached his shipat 11:07 AM. As Company F, 2nd Battalionscrambled down the ramps, twenty year old,Motor Machinist Mate 2nd Class Brownlee A.McMahon from Marshall, Texas, tensed as severalartillery shells struck the water on both sidesof the 410. In addition, he saw the water rippedon the starboard side by a burst of machinegunfire. All troops were offloaded within five minutesand Brownlee McMahon, who manned the sternwinch on the fantail, was ordered to pull the 410off the beach. In a last minute heroic effort,eighteen year old Boatswains Mate, JeffersonSugg of Smithfield, North Carolina ran down thestarboard ramp and carried a severely woundedsoldier back onto LCI 410. Under intense fire, the410 pushed a damaged LCVP out of the way as itmade its way to deep waters.To the left (east) of LCI409 was LCI 553 whichhad followed Lindsay Henry in his Flagship LCI 408to the beach. The Skipper of LCI 553 was Lt (jg)Don DuBrul, a no- nonsense regular Navy man whohad enlisted in 1938. He had survived PearlHarbor on the USS Argonne and then was assignedAtlantic Convoy Escort Duty as Chief Signalmanon the Destroyer USS Carmick. He was later commissionedas an officer and reported to Solomons,Maryland, for Amphibious training, eventually takingcommand of LCI 553. He was not loved bysome of his crew but he was respected by all. Hewas competent and ran a tight ship.DuBrul beached his LCI 553 about twenty-fiveyards to the right (west) of LCI 408 which hadgot stuck on a sand bar short of the beach. LCI553 carried Company F and Lt. Colonel Warfield,commander of the 2nd Battalion. Chief SignalmanRoy Stone, a nineteen year old native ofWellsville, Ohio stood on the Conn with DuBrul.While they approached the beach, he saw thatmuch of the beach and bluffs were shrouded insmoke. There was a great deal of wreckagealong the shore. Many bodies littered the beachand floated in the water. Off to his right (west)near E-1 Draw he could see several vehicles gettinghit by mortars or artillery fire. DuBrul wasbarking orders. Twenty-one year old ElectriciansMate John Buckla of Olyphant, Pennsylvania stoodin the pilothouse next to Quartermaster RolandScott who was at the helm. Buckla looked westto E-1 Draw and could not understand why Navygunners had not destroyed the white house nearthe E draw. Twenty year old Seaman 1st ClassEarl Phifer, a native of Charlotte North Carolinastood at his battle station on the starboard rampand watched the heavily laden Company Fdescend into the cold water. The scene wasimmortalized by Jack Gale with his camera fromthe Conn of LCI 412 to the east (see page 15).16
The stern anchor let out by LCI 553 did not holdand the strong cross current pushed the stern ofthe vessel to the left (east) directly in front ofthe bow of LCI 408 which was still stuck on asand bar. The stern anchor cable of the 553fouled the starboard ramp of the 408. Officerson LCI 408 briefly considered off loading thetroops from their bow to the stern of LCI 553 butthe distance was too great. After a few expletivesfrom the infantry, this idea was abandoned.The frustrated Colonel Slappey would be furtherdelayed in getting to the beach. At 1120, SkipperDouglas Wright successfully retracted LCI 408from the sand bar and made another attempt forthe beach, this time to the right (west) of LCI553. He dropped his stern anchor at 1143 andby 1146, Wright and Group 34 CommanderLindsay Henry watched Company G, ColonelSlappey and his staff finally departing their ship.PFC Billy Melander, Colonel Slappy’s “runner”descended the port ramp carrying the “536Signal Corps Radio” for Captain Nevius. After hestepped off the ramp, he dropped into a hole andsank into deep water. He managed to shed theradio and his rifle and after nearly drowning, hesurfaced and dogpaddled towards the beach.Exhausted, he lay on the sand until he heard aloud voice say “Stand up. I need a runner andyou are him!” He looked up and saw Lt. ColonelBlatt who had earlier off loaded from LCI 554.Melander did not see Colonel Slappey anywhereso he picked up an M1 Carbine off the beach anddutifully followed Lt. Colonel Richard Blatt untilhe was killed that night near St. Laurent.As the troops got off the 408, twenty-one yearold Pharmacist Mate 1st Class Wilbur “Doc”Bunker of Olivia, Minnesota, waited in at his battlestation in the pilot house, wondering if hisservices would soon be needed. He was a veteranof the North Africa and Sicily landings wherehe served on Navy Transport Dorothea L. DixAP67. Above him on the Conn at the signal“Flag Bag” was nineteen years old Signalman2nd Class Thurman Dial from DeKalb County,Alabama. He too was a veteran of theMediterranean campaign where he served on LCI45. Seventeen year old Seaman 1st ClassFranklin Nation of Ogelthorpe County, Georgia,was stationed at #2 Gun on port side with ShipsCook Ray Aubin. Nation saw that they were takingfire from a pillbox to their right (west) but aNavy Destroyer clobbered it with a couple ofrounds and the firing stopped, at least for thetime being. Skipper Wright noted that if theDestroyers ceased firing on pillboxes even for ashort time, the guns in the pillboxes would openup on the LCIs again. As the 408 prepared toretract from the beach, Franklin Nation wasordered to leave his 20MM and help with thefouled starboard ramp. At that time a mortar roundhit the water off the starboard side and momentslater at 12:01PM, a second round slammed intothe water off the port side of LCI 408 . The concussionfrom the round shook Thurman Dial on theConn and shrapnel struck Ray Aubin in the back at#2 Gun, killing him instantly. A minute later, LCI408 retracted from the beach, straddled by mortarshells as she went. One round landed right in frontof the vessel where she had been moments before.By that time, Lindsay Henry’s 2nd assault wavehad already begun landing the 3rd Battalion on thebeach. Sadly, “Doc” Bunker’s only task asPharmacist Mate on D Day was to escort the lifelessbody of Ray Aubin below deck and standwatch on him during their journey back to England.As LCI 408 retracted from the beach, SkipperWright noted with “considerable satisfaction” theinfantry putting an enemy shore emplacementout of action. This was most assuredly the pillboxat the mouth of E-1 Draw captured by a combinedeffort of 2nd Battalion 18th RCT, and elementsof the 7th Field Artillery Battalion, 467thAntiaircraft Artillery Battalion and 741st TankBattalion. (Source: Balkoski)The LCIs of Group 34 performed their tasks asfast as they could. Most of them spent betweenfive to twelve minutes on the beach while theyoffloaded their troops. They gave the Germans littletime to zero in on them. This explained inpart why there were so many near misses.However, any vessel that lingered too long waslikely to become a sitting duck. LCI 553 wasdoomed after it had unloaded her troops. Her17
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 and 12: Reproduced from D-Day, by Stephen E
Page 13 and 14: VanBlake of LCI 540. VanBlake was a
Page 15: Signalman Jack Gale stood on the Co
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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