Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings (65 page)

39.
Lewis,
Exercise Tiger
, 79.

40.
Eugene V. Eckstam, “Exercise Tiger,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 43.

41.
Ibid., 43–44; Lewis,
Exercise Tiger
, 92, 101.

42.
Eckstam, “Exercise Tiger,” 44; Lewis,
Exercise Tiger
, 90–93.

43.
Lewis,
Exercise Tiger
, 101.

44.
Ibid., 67.

45.
Ibid., 104–5.

46.
Robert L. Evans Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 3–4.

47.
The exact number of killed in Exercise Tiger is uncertain. The number given here (639) is from the official Navy report. Once the event became a matter of public discussion, some argued that the actual number was higher. The number engraved on the monument at Slapton Sands is 739. There is a lengthy and thoughtful discussion of this question in Nigel Lewis,
Exercise Tiger
, 219–34.

48.
DDE to GCM, April 29, 1944, PDDE, 3:1838–39; Com 12th Fleet (Stark) to COMINCH (King), May 2, 1944, COMINCH to Com 12th Fleet, May 3 and May 4, 1944, and CINCMED (Cunningham) to Admiralty, May 4, 1944, all in ComUSNavEu, Message File, RG 313, box 13, NA.

49.
COMINCH to COMNAVNAW, May 13, 1944, ComUSNavEu, Message File, RG 313, box 13, NA; Alan G. Kirk, “Admiral Ramsay and I,” in Stillwell,
Assault on Normandy
, 25; Ramsay Diary (May 7 and 15, 1944), 65, 70.

50.
Alan G. Kirk Oral History, Columbia University, 281; Ramsay Diary (May 8, 1944), 65–66.

51.
COM 12th Fleet (Stark) to CTF 122 (Kirk), May 1, 1944, ComUSNavEu, Message File, RG 313, box 16, NA.

52.
The witness to this confrontation was Moon’s Assistant Plans Officer, CDR John Moreno, who recalled it several times, including his essay “The Death of Admiral Moon,” in Stillwell,
Assault on Normandy
, 225–30, and in a conversation with Nigel Lewis that is included in
Exercise Tiger
, 127. He offers additional insights in a letter dated October 6, 1984, now in the Meredith Moon Collection, Maui, Hawaii.

53.
Ramsay Diary (May 4–5 and 15, 1944), 62–63, 70.

54.
Donald Irwin, “The U.S. LCT 614 Following D-Day,” in the Donald Irwin File, NWWIIM-EC, 6; William T. O’Neill Oral History (p. 18), and Edwin Gale Oral History (p. 14), both in NWWIIM-EC.

55.
Winston Churchill,
Closing the Ring
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1951), 614–15; Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe
, 245.

Chapter 10: “A Hum Throughout the Country”

1.
The diarist is J. L. Hobson, and the Dorset resident was the British pacifist Vera Brittain. Both are quoted in Angus Calder,
The People’s War: Britain, 1939–45
(London: Jonathan Cape, 1969), 557, 558. The villagers’ reaction is in William G. Bacon in Edward F. Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex: Naval Stories of the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944
(Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1998), 187.

2.
George R. Hackett Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 5.

3.
Western Naval Task Force, Neptune Operation Order No. BB-44, May 20, 1944, John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 14, folder 1, Swem Library, W&M; Edwin Gale Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 6.

4.
William F. Heavey,
Down Ramp! The Story of the Army Amphibian Engineers
(Washington, DC: Infantry Journal Press, 1947), 74–78; Nelson Dubroc Oral History (p. 2), Orval Wakefield Oral History (p. 4), and Joe G. Smith Oral History (p. 1), all in NWWIIM-EC.

5.
Michael Harrison,
Mulberry: The Return in Triumph
(London: W. H. Allen, 1965), 101.

6.
Robert H. Miller Oral History (n.p.), Orval Wakefield Oral History (p. 4), and Curtis Hansen Oral History (p. 6), all in NWWIIM-EC.

7.
George Goodspeed Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 4–5; Joel E. Garner and William G. Bacon, in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 20, 187; Western Naval Task Force, Neptune Operation Order No. BB-44, May 20, 1944, John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 14, folder 1, Swem Library, W&M.

8.
Harrison,
Mulberry
, 98–100.

9.
Calhoun Bond Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 3.

10.
Roy Carter Oral History, USNA, 11; Armond Barth Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 3.

11.
“Suggested Operating Procedures for LCT,” Flotilla Nine, in George Keleher File, NWWIIM-EC.

12.
Armond J. Barth Oral History, MWWIIM-EC, 1.

13.
George Hackett Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 5.

14.
Wallace Bishop Oral History (pp. 2–4) and Donald E. Irwin Oral History (p. 5), both in NWWIIM-EC; Quentin R. Walsh, “The Capture of Cherbourg,” in Paul Stilwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy: First-Person Accounts from the Sea Services
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1994), 195.

15.
Logistics Plan for Overlord, May 15, 1944, in John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 12, Swem Library, W&M.

16.
Action Report, USS
Barnett
(APA-5), June 24, 1944, USNA.

17.
Vincent del Giudice Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 3.

18.
William T. O’Neill Oral History (p. 14), John O’Rourke Oral History (p. 6), James Watts Oral History (p. 3), James Goodspeed Oral History (pp. 4–5), Calhoun Bond Oral History (pp. 4, 15), and Curtis Hansen Oral History (p. 11), all in NWWIIM-EC.

19.
Ted Billnitzer Oral History (p. 3), and Robert H. Miller Oral History (n.p.), both in NWWIIM-EC.

20.
Robert L. Evans Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 6; John D. Bulkeley, “Ike Remembered Me,” in Stillwell,
Assault on Normandy
, 51.

21.
George VI to Churchill, June 2, 1944, in Winston S. Churchill,
Closing the Ring
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1951), 618–22; Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1949), 251.

22.
Edwin Gale to his father, June 6, 1944, in Edwin Gale File, NWWIIM-EC; Moon to Mrs. (Sybil) Moon, June 2, 1944, Meredith Moon Collection, Maui, Hawaii.

23.
Edwin Gale Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 5.

24.
Sunset was recorded in the logs of several ships including USS
Carmick
(DD493), Action Report, June 23, 1944, USNA. The senior officer was Lt. Gen. Lewis Brereton, who is quoted in Joseph Balkoski,
Utah Beach: The Amphibious Landing and Airborne Operations on D-Day, June 6, 1944
(Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Press, 2005), 73.

25.
Howard Vander Beek on LCC-60, in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 131; Wallace Bishop Oral History, NWWIIM-EC.

26.
Carleton F. Bryant, “Battleship Commander,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 183; K. L. Dyer,
50 North: An Atlantic Battleground
(London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1963), 249.

27.
Antony Beevor,
D-Day: The Battle for Normandy
(New York: Penguin, 2009), 11; Carlo D’Este,
Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life
(New York: Henry Holt, 2002), 519–20; Ramsay Diary (June 3, 1944), 81.

28.
Stagg offers the best firsthand account of this meeting in
Forecast for Overlord, June 6
,
1944
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1971), 100–102. See also Ramsay Diary (June 4, 1944), 82; Bernard Montgomery,
The Memoirs of Field-Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
(London: Collins, 1958), diary entries of June 4 and 5, 1944, 248–49; and D’Este,
Eisenhower
, 520–21.

29.
Alan G. Kirk Oral History, Columbia University, 311.

30.
Ibid.; Morton Deyo, “Naval Guns at Normandy,” Personal Papers Collection of Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, box 87 (p. 26), NHHC.

31.
John Lesslie Hall Jr. Oral History, Columbia University, 179.

32.
William T. O’Neill Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 17.

33.
James E. Arnold, “NOIC Utah,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 86.

34.
Edwin Gale Oral History (p. 6), and Dean Rockwell Oral History (p. 8), both in NWWIIM-EC.

35.
Howard Vander Beek, in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 131; Richard G. Laine Jr. Oral History (p. 4), and August Leo Thomas Oral History (p. 3), both in NWWIIM-EC; William G. Bacon, in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 187.

36.
Robert L. Evans Oral History, NWWIIM-EC.

37.
Harry C. Butcher,
My Three Years with Eisenhower: The Personal Diary of Captain Harry C. Butcher
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1946), 562.

38.
D’Este,
Eisenhower
, 522–24.

39.
The “concern” is from Ramsay’s Diary (June 5 and 6, 1944), 82, 83. See also Gordon A. Harrison,
Cross-Channel Attack
(Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1951), 273–74. D’Este discusses the various iterations of this subsequently famous phrase in footnote 38, p. 782, of his biography of Eisenhower.

40.
Butcher,
My Three Years with Eisenhower
, 561.

Chapter 11: D-Day: The Invasion

1.
COMNAVEU to COMNAVNAW, May 19, 1944, ComUSNavEu, Message File, RG 313, box 13, NA; Ramsay Diary (March 24, 1944), 47–48.

2.
Tamara M. Melia,
“Damn the Torpedoes”: A Short History of U.S. Naval Mine Countermeasures
(Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1991), 55–58; “Intelligence Bulletin Number 2,” Naval Commander, Western Task Force (Kirk), May 29, 1944, NWWIIM-EC.

3.
John D. Bulkeley, “Ike Remembered Me,” and John R. Blackstone, “The Best Seat for a Really Big Show,” both in Paul Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy: First Person Accounts from the Sea Services
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1994), 52, 100; COMNAVEU (Stark) to ANCXF (Ramsay), May 13, 1944, COMNAVEU, Message File, RG 313, box 13, NA.

4.
Ship’s log of Minelayer 137, printed in Brendan A. Maher,
A Passage to Sword Beach: Minesweeping in the Royal Navy
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996), 114–15. Captain Rhea’s testimonial is from the
Nevada
’s Action Report, June 23, 1944, USNA. See also Kenneth Edwards,
Operation Neptune: The Normandy Landings, 1944
(Fonthill Media, 2013), 110–13.

5.
Philip Vian,
Action This Day: A War Memoir
(London: Frederick Muller, 1960), 135; R. G. Watts, personal memoir, available at
www.bbc.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories
.

6.
George Hackett Oral History (p. 5), and Edwin Gale Oral History (p. 7), both in NWWIIM-EC.

7.
Martin Waarvick Oral History (p. 4), Wallace Bishop Oral History (p. 3–4), and William T. O’Neill Oral History (p. 18), all in NWWIIM-EC; Arthur Struble Oral History, USNI, 166; Alan G. Kirk Oral History, Columbia University, 315.

8.
The text of Eisenhower’s broadcast is in PDDE, 3:1913. The story of men singing on Moon’s flagship is in John R. Lewis Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 4.

9.
Dean Rockwell Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 10.

10.
The quotation is from Curtis Hansen Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 6. The numbers are from various sources including Max Hastings,
Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), 348.

11.
Jacob Brouwer, in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 100; Action Report, USS
Laffey
(DD-724), June 27, 1944, USNA.

12.
George Hackett Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 6, 8; Action Report, USS
Ancon
(Hall’s flagship), June 21, 1944, USNA.

13.
Curtis Hansen Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 6; Bush,
Bless Our Ship
, 256; James E. Arnold, “NOIC Utah,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 87; Vian,
Action This Day
, 137.

14.
James E. Arnold, “NOIC Utah,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 87; James Jones to his father, June 27, 1944, in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 63; John Kepchar,
Keppy’s War: A Memoir of World War II
(Bloomington, IN: Xlibris, 2005), 69.

15.
Quoted in Paul Carell,
Invasion! They’re Coming
(New York: E. P. Dutton, 1963), 78.

16.
George Elsey, “Strategy and Secrecy,” in Paul Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy:
First-Person Accounts from the Sea Services
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1994), 17; Morrison,
The Invasion of France and Germany
, 33.

17.
Kepchar,
Keppy’s War
, 69; George W. Goodspeed Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 7–8; William B. Kirkland Jr.,
Destroyers at Normandy: Naval Gunfire Support at Omaha Beach
(Washington, DC: Naval Historical Foundation, 1994), 22; Thomas B. Allen, “Gallant Destroyers on D-Day,”
Naval History
(June 2004), 18–23.

18.
The phrase is borrowed from the title of Cornelius Ryan’s classic book,
The Longest
Day, June 6, 1944
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959).

19.
Morison,
The Invasion of France and Germany
, 33; Joseph Balkoski,
Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944
(Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2004), 124.

20.
Neptune Operation Order No. BB-44, May 20, 1944, Papers of John Lesslie Hall Jr., box 14, folder 1, Swem Library, W&M; Balkoski,
Omaha Beach
, 98, 102.

21.
Handwritten report of Ensign Albert Pelligrini to Rockwell, n.d., in Rockwell file, NWWIIM-EC.

22.
Neptune Operation Order BB-44, May 20, 1944, John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 14, folder 1, Swem Library, W&M; Dean Rockwell Oral History, NWWIIMEC, 12.

23.
Pellegrini to Rockwell, n.d., in Rockwell File, NWWIIM-EC; Rockwell Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 13.

24.
Hall to King, July 27, 1944, John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 1, folder 5, Swem Library, W&M; Sullivan to Rockwell, June 15, 1944, in Rockwell file, NWWIIM-EC; Richard H. Crook Jr., “Traffic Cop,” in Paul Stillwell,
Assault on Normandy
, 66.