American Airpower Comes of Age

ENGLAND, NORMANDY BEACHES, ITALY
invasion. In gratitude for his hospitality, Marshall, Arnold, and King
arranged to have General Eisenhower present a JCS flag and plaque to the
Gibsons in July 1944. See correspondence in AP.
63. The movie Up in Arms, with Kaye, Shore, and Dana Andrews was the
story of a chronic complainer and his problems as an Army draftee.
64. Although Air Chief Marshal Trafford L. Leigh-Mallory, RAF, had two
headquarters, one at Stanmore in Middlesex very close to Arnold’s quarters,
the other at Norfolk House in London, it is clear that Arnold and his companions
set out for the former.
65. Maj James S. Pittinger, AAF, executive officer to the Deputy Commander
for Operations, USSTAF, was assigned as Arnold’s aide while he was
in London.
66. Marshall had spent the weekend at Chequers with Churchill. Pogue,
392, speculates that the proposed southern France invasion, which the
prime minister continued vigorously to oppose, was “almost certainly . . . the
main topic of conversation” between Marshall and the prime minister.
67. Perhaps because Churchill was absent, there seemed to be considerable
agreement on such issues as the American suggestion of halting the
Italian campaign at the Apennines or the Pisa-Rimini line as well as consideration
of either the southern France landing or, as the British suggested,
one in western France, its final location to be determined later. Arnold
reported that transport aircraft would be available for support of either landing.
This second France landing issue would not be settled here because of
Churchill’s continuing opposition to the proposal. Arnold does not cover the
meeting in Global Mission; Bryant briefly discusses it on 156; Pogue discusses
it on 394–95.
68. Capt J. B. Goode, USN, assignment at the time unknown. Maj J. C.
Smuts, South African Army, was aide de camp to his father.
69. Capt Charles C. Kirkpatrick, USN, Admiral King’s aide.
70. Portsmouth, Hampshire, was the major British channel port used as
the Allied embarkation point for the invasion.
71. USS Thompson was a destroyer, Ellyson class, commissioned in
1943.
72. They toured the harbor in a subchaser before boarding a DUKW
“Duck,” a 15,000-pound, 31-foot amphibious vehicle used in landing on a
portion of the coast designated by the US Army as Easy Red. Rear Adm Alan
G. Kirk, USN, commander Western Task Force; Rear Adm John L. Hall Jr.,
USN, commander Eastern Task Force.
73. The pre-World War I British battleship Centurion along with “tired old
merchant ships” called “Gooseberries” were sunk along with large concrete
caissons called “Phoenixes” as breakwaters to facilitate the invasion landings
and resupply. In addition, two huge artificial harbors constructed in
Britain, called Mulberries, were towed across to the invasion area in an
attempt to lessen the pressure on the Allied invaders to capture a channel
port. The one in the American sector was made inoperable by the storm of
19 June. An explanation and a diagram are in E. B. Potter and Chester W.
177