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Having previously been involved in coastal command, on D-Day I was Acting Chief Petty Officer on a landing craft, the Americans had lost a lot of their craft during practice some six weeks earlier, and we had been seconded to them as replacements. I was with them when they landed on Omaha beach at about 6.30am

We had set off from Weymouth, and met up with other US forces off Plymouth. We were half way across when the invasion was postponed for 24 hours. They had to send a flying boat out to catch up with us and turn us back. We returned to Plymouth for the night.

After we had discharged our troops onto the beach at Omaha the next day, we tried to reverse back off, but hit a sunken American “floating tank”. Our rudder was damaged, and we had to steer back to England by alternating the port and starboard engines.

We were told that we had control of the skies, and that we weren’t to worry about any aircraft as they were all ours. Well someone should have told the pilot of the Fokke Wolf Condor that dropped a load on us as we went back to England. He blew the stern off the boat in front, and damaged our bow.

We were repaired in Weymouth, and returned to Omaha the next day. We spent about three weeks going over to Omaha and Utah beaches every other day, until the American Mulbery harbour was built. We got caught up with one of the barges making up the harbour, and eventually managed to break free by pumping water out. However when we got back to port they decided we were in such a bad state we would have to be scrapped.

The following year, I was posted to the Far East. However, we had reached the Bay of Biscay when the Japanese surrendered.

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