“Oh GOd, yOur sea is sO larGe and my ship is sO small”

The troops, most of whom were seasick, remained below deck until about five o’clock when we received a radio order. At this point,we upped anchor and formed a line, about fifteen abreast. The nineteenth wave was on its way. Finally we were doing what wecame to do.As we approached the beach, isolated splashes in groups of four appeared around us. We were under fire. However, the gunners whowere firing could not see us. They were firing blind.When we grounded on the beach, we extended and lowered our ramps and began discharging troops into the relatively calm water.Heavily laden as they were, these heroic soldiers struggled towards shore but because the ship had grounded on an offshore bar,they quickly waded into water over their heads. One man carrying a radio on his back was head down, feet out of the water,thrashing. Sailors on a grounded LCT, left behind in one of the morning landings, fished them out with boat hooks.As the troops disembarked on Utah Beach, our ship rose in the water and, since the tide was rising rapidly, Captain Carideo, of NotreDame Football fame, had to continue to reground the ship. However, in the process a strong long-shore current carried usnorthwards, parallel to the beach, and I and my men had to unreel more cable to keep us in place. Eventually, we were forced toretract, pull ourselves off the beach, and beach the ship a total of three times--all amidst the general chaos and shell fire. Finally,the last of our troops were removed by small Higgins boats and we were, thankfully, free to leave.It was only later, much, much later, that we realized the part we had played in what Dwight D. Eisenhower called in his June 6, 1944,D-Day speech: “the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.”16 | ELSIE ITEM | October 2011