Garand Picture of the day #151 - D-day

[Mark in Rochester]

Swimming through a rough surf swept by machine gun and mortar fire, Coast Guardsman carried a guide line to the beach of Normandy on D-Day and survived heavy Nazi fire that mowed down many soldiers following the line to the beach. This photo depicts how the soldier wrapped the end of the line around his middle and served as a "human anchor" in the midst of enemy fire. Of the 36 invaders who attempted to follow the line ashore, only six made it. Meanwhile, the ramp of the Coast Guard-manned LCI had been shot away by shellfire

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[Snafu]

[Dan Shapiro]

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have
striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The
hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on
other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of
Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well
equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of
1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats,
in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their
strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home
Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions
of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.
The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to
Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in
battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great
and noble undertaking.


Dwight D. Eisenhower

[paul1440]

In the picture Snafu posted, on the far right, is LST 533 USS Cheboygan. That's the boat my great-uncle was on. He was in D Company 175th Infantry and landed on 7 June 1944. Sadly he was killed in action less than two weeks later. He is the person pictured in my avatar.

[kragluver]

Found this on another forum. I don't think any words are necessary.

[TerryS]

Carbines and an '03

[NB51]

My sister's father-in-law was in the second wave to hit Omaha Beach. He said when the LSts turned around to pick up the second load of GIs, many of them were full of guts, limbs and dead men. They were told to just get in and hit the beach.

Five years ago when I met him I showed him a Carbine I had and he grabbed it and said "They gave us these pea-shooters to hit Omaha with. We had to climb down into an LST that was running with blood and guts and if you don't think that freaked us out, you're mad. Then in the midst of hell breaking loose we found ourselves splashing through the surf and that's when I realized the carbine was useless for us. The Krouts were shooting at us from 300 yards away and here we had these pop guns. Well the beach by then was littered with 03's so I threw that worthless carbine away, grabbed an 03 out of the surf half-buried in sand. Still running through the surf to get to solid ground, I opened the bolt and bent over on the run and sloshed sea water through it to wash out the sand, slammed the bolt back and ended up keeping that 03 until the '60s when I gave up using it for hunting."

I sat there listening to him stunned as usual when hearing a WWII vet tell his story. He handed me back the carbine and didn't pay any more attention to it. It's a great short rifle and certainly has an advantage in certain uses, but to give it to guys on Omaha seemed pure madness to me - and obviously him too.

[kragluver]

I think there are two M1s in the picture. One just to the left of the '03 and another muzzle sticking up over on the right. I wondered too just how effective a carbine would be to an assault troop. Great story NB51.

[gunsmith]

My neighbor across the hollar was in the 3rd Amphib Div. for the Corp in WWII.

Right after I got my Quality Hardware I had him over to sit on the glider to take a look and he grunted and started telling the tale of landing on a beach head in the Pacific. Called the Carbine an over rated pistol with no stopping power. He vented some more and told about using his Garand and bayonet to stop a charging Jap soldier. Surprised by his remark as it was the first time I'd ever heard about the event I asked if he still had his M-1. He smiled and said yah, in fact I've got six of them just in case.....