The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1944-12-22
UPPER DARBY, Pa.


My Dear Sweetheart:
Excuse the horrible writing,
dear, as / cut my thumb open
ing Grafton can.
On the eve of D-day most OF
us slept on deck because of the
heat Il went to church firsD and
we could see far away the flash
es of our naval guns Smelling the
islands. None of us slept much,
but the next morning we got the
surprise Of our lives.
We were going full steam
ahead right up the bay, ships
all around us as far as the eye
could see, and no fire from the
shore. We dropped anchor about
a mile from shore and the Navy
put on a fireworks show, rang
ing up and down the coast she'll
ing shore installations.
That went on for about ! Il
hours and smoke beloved up
in various spots, apparently hits
on fuel dumps. At 10 a. m, the
first assault wave went over the
sides of the ships and shortly
after our ships public address
system announced that the mi
tial landing was made, that the
troops were 500 yards from the
beach and were meeting little if
no return fire.
BY this time other waves
were going in and the bay was
filled with landing barges. At
noon our platoon went down
the rope ladders and went in
on the ninth wave. If I had had
the time, l would have stood
there, mouth agape like a yokel
because it wasn't my conception
at all of a beachhead assault.
The place was filled with troops,
bulldozers tore up the trees to
widen roads, and some boys
were washing their clothes in
the surf.
Another chap and i were
posted as road guides for our
outfit. 1t poured and we were
saturated to the skin. Later the
two of us Strolled back to the
beach TO see what actually had
happened. Then we fully appre-
ciated the part the Navy play
ed and how it probably saved so
many lives.
There were dead Japs splat-
tered all over the place. Pill
boxes were wrecked and Japs
floated face down in huge, wa
terrified shell craters. Nothing
could have lived under that
bombardment and it reminded
me of the wreck of the Congress
sional Limited. / peered into one
battered Jap pillbox and got the
shock of my life-it will take
me a long time to forget those
faces staring out. 1t cured me of
my morbid curiosity.
A few snipers were still in the
brush but our riflemen quickly
disposed of them. BY this time
big ships with flat fronts that
come down like a drawbridge
of a medieval castle, unloaded
heavy equipment of all kinds.
One could get small idea of
the efficiency and long detailed
planning behind this operation
and it sure made us feed good
and a bit proud.
The place looked like a boom
town in a few hours. Troops and
equipment clogged the roads
and we didn't get to our bivouac
area until 9 p. m, about two
miles inland. We were a little
nervous but not much and we
alternated in keeping watch
two together. The night was I'M
eventful except for our artillery
fire overhead and flares that
provided an artificial moonlight
so we could spot anything NOV
ing in the brush. We could dig
foxholes to depth of only two
feet before striking water.
The next night Saturday,
Oct. 2D, we camped about four
miles in, alongside a strip of
water, something like a bay.
Apparently the relapse set in
IL a... MAMMA. ,.ra.. AZ ti.LA o.