"The Elsie Item" - USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association

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Can You Top this for BRASS?The following morning, at 0620, Colonel Woods, U. S. Army, Commander, 117'h Infantry, 29 th Infantry Division came aboard. But that was only the preliminaries! At 0648 we welcomed: Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley, Commander, I SI ArmyLieutenant General Cortney Hodges, Deputy Commander, 15\ArmyMajor General R. O. Barton, Commanding General, 4th DivisionLieutenant General H. Lumader, British Army, identified in thelog as "Liaison Staff to General MacArthur"Lieutenant General DeGmngand, British Army, Chief of Staff,21 sl British Army GroupFrom the Editor:I'm going to challenge all you LCIers out there with this assertion::At no time during WWII were there more top brass aboard oneLCIthan on board the USS LCI(L) 502 on March 1O-1l, 1944Any takers? Anthony Pelle, of LCI(L) 495 might well want to challenge that (see Letters to the Editor) and he will certainly get bonus points for having General Eisenhower aboard, but let me give you my list and you can be the judge. My reference for this is the log of the 502 for the dates of this event. The stars fell on the 502 on March 10-11, 1944. The occasion was a practice landing exercise in Start Bay, Devon, England in preparation for D-Day. The LCI 502 was, for some reason, selected to be an observation ship, carrying the brass who needed to see up close what was happening. When we heard who was coming, we tried to fi!:,'1lre out many side boys would be needed, where in the heck we could put them and, most importantly, who could blow a bosn's pipe! Fortunately the order came that "no honors will be rendered" which relieved us all - especially Walt Sellers, our Bos'n. andBrigadier General [initials illegible] Belchem, British Army, BGSPlans, 21 sl Army Group.Can you top this?Logistics that day were something else! I wish I had saved it as asouvenir, but one of the things I remember was a sign posted onthe officer's head reading:"This head is for the use of officers of the rank of Colonel orabove"One of our brash young seamen had the gall to yell "Gangway,ship's company" at a bunch of the star-wearers on the gun deck!And my greatest moment came when General Bradley passed thenumber two 20mm where I was on duty. He paused, looked atthe gun and said,"That's the Mark 14 gunsight, isn't it?""Yessir", I quickly responded.And that was the conversation that undoubtedly changed the courseof the whole war!So here's the list: At 2130, 10 March 44, a Major General W. O. Butler, USAAF came aboard with his aide. At 2145 Rear Admiral D. P. Moon, USN, Task Force Commander, and Rear Admiral J. Wilkes, USN, Commander 11th Amphibious Force came aboard with a bunch of Captains, Majors and Lieutenants as aides. 16
Elmer Carmichael: German Paratrooper or LCIer? Here s a great story for you from our good friend ElmerCarmichael, LCI85, now living in Crescent, Oklahoma.You'd think those British Police would have more respect for acombat vet who has just lost his ship!"Out ofthe Fire and Into the Frying Pan - A True Story"On D-Day in Normandy our ship was attempting to land over200 American troops on bloody Omaha Beach when our shipwas shelled, caught on fire and sank. Several days after, all ofour surviving crew members, not wounded, were sent to asurvivor's camp in Plymouth, England. Due to the fact that welost everything except what we were wearing on D-Day, we wereissued a Red Cross Survivor's Kit which consisted of sneakers,pin-striped trousers, slip-over sweaters. Then each of us wereissued battle jackets by the British Army. Our only identificationwas our dog tags which we wore on a chain around our necks.one time and he asked many questions about Chicago and wecould not answer any of them! They informed me that I evenlooked like a German and I told them that I was one-half Germansince my mother emigrated through Ellis Island just prior toWorld War One.After some time, I insisted that we be allowed to call the ShorePatrol in Plymouth and they sent a jeep to pick us up aroundmidnight. The Shore Patrol had to sign for us and they took usback to Plymouth where the Officer of the Day greeted us with."You damn guys knew that you were not to leave the PlymouthArea"And my reply was,"Aye, Aye, Sir"I could not think of a single valid excuse to tel1 him.We were allowed to go into the City of Plymouth; however, wewere warned that, due to our odd mixture of clothing, we werenot to leave the city as the Shore Patrol and Military Police wouldnot know who we were.One of my shipmates had a girl friend who was stationed on afarm some 65 miles from Plymouth and he told me that therewas a second girl also stationed at the same farm and that shewas very attractive. England drafted women into the Land Armyduring World War II to do the farming since most of the menwere in the service. Since at that time I was young and single, itwas not too difficult for him to convince me to go with him tovisit these two English girls.We rode a bus as far as we could, then we caught rides withcivilians the rest ofthe way to the farm. Just after it got dark, thetwo girls, the woman who owned the farm, and my shipmate andI were at the table eating supper when suddenly many spotlightsshown on the farm house and several English Bobbies (Police)came to the door.The police informed us that there had been reports of GermanParatroopers being in the area and, of course, they thought thatwe were the German Paratroopers. We could not produce identification,so the police proceeded to take us to the local policestation where we underwent a very serious interrogation by theEnglish Bobbies. One of the Bobbies had lived in Chicago atBook ReviewMighty Midgets at War; The Saga of the LCS(L)Shipsirom Iwo Jima to Vietnamby Robin L. Reiley Hel1gate Press, P.O. Box 3727, Central Point, OR 07502-0032ISBN 1-55571-5222-2Paperback, $18.95Reviewed by Ralph Langenheim, LCI(L) 551, Urbana,ILReilly's comprehensive account of LCI(L) 3's should interestLCI veterans. LCS(L) 3's evolved from LCI(L)s, supplementingand replacing LCI(G)'s, LCI(R)'s and LCI(M)'s which wereLCI(L) conversions designed for close-in fire support.Though LCS(L)'s had the same hull, quad drive propulsion, familiarround conn, and stern anchor/winch as conventional LCItypes, these babies carried about three times as many crewmenand packed a much more potent armament. Their main battery,either a 3"/50, twin mount 40mm, or single mount 40mm gun,was supplemented with a diverse array of 20mm, .50 caliber,and .30 caliber machine guns plus rockets. Their function was17
Page 1 and 2: "The Elsie Item" orficial Newslette
Page 3 and 4: A Note from the EditorIn place of m
Page 5 and 6: PACIFIC WING, NATIONAL D-DAY MUSEUM
Page 7 and 8: LeI ReunionsMichigan LCI ReunionRep
Page 9 and 10: to the public across the river from
Page 11 and 12: member in our organization.credit.
Page 13 and 14: That night four Jap destroyers trie
Page 15: in fact, being "run over" by anothe
Page 19 and 20: She has never known the feeling ofm
Page 21 and 22: Our diet dictated the flat belly, n
Page 23 and 24: Pete Gagliardi Experiences the Grea
Page 25 and 26: PICTURE GALLERY This one is just to
Page 27 and 28: ~n ~£moriam The bell has tolled fo
Page 29 and 30: Comings and Goings: LClers on the M
Page 31 and 32: THE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF THE U
Page 33: USS LeI NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONlVIElVI

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