"Jan. 4, 1944
    Left Ambridge, Penn. For New Orleans

Jan. 16, 1944
    Arrived New Orleans

Jan. 22, 1944
    Left New Orleans for Mobile

Jan. 23, 1944
    Arrived Mobile

Feb. 7, 1944
    Left Mobile for Panama City, Fla.

Feb. 21, 1944
    Left Panama City for New Orleans
    Ran aground at St. Andrews Bay

Feb.24, 1944
    Arrived New Orleans

March 2, 1944
    Left New Orleans for ?
    Began dawn & sunset alerts

March 4, 1944
    Picked up convoy at Key West

March 11, 1944
    Arrived New York Harbor

March 17
    Left New York. Boiler still giving trouble.

March 18
    Arrived Seabee Base, Davisville, R.I.

March 19
    Taking on cargo. Visited Jewel Buckner in Conn.

March 22
    Left Davisville for Boston

March 23-24
    Arrived Boston. Awaiting convoy orders. Took on some Army officers. Liberty is 4.0

March 25
    Left Boston to join convoy. Met convoy forming at 1200. Heading for Halifax, N.S. About 34 ships. Tankers, freighters & LST's. Also, supposed to have 3 D.E.'s. Where are they?

March 26
    Underway as before

March 27
    Arrived at Halifax. No liberty

March 29
    Leaving Halifax. Convoy of 7 (?) ships. Average speed 7 knots. Escort - 4 corvettes??? Yipe

March 30
    Underway as before - Lots of water.

March 31
    Underway as before

April 1
    Underway as before. 3 ships have dropped out - engine trouble. Ship ahead is limping on one engine. 1100 - heavy fog. Can't see 50 ft. Ships towing fog bouys behind so ship following can keep in line. Zig zagging.

April 2
    Underway as before. Dawn and sunset alerts. Passed 5 icebergs. Fog lifted last nite. Ship rolling about 15^o. Ran into large field of floating ice.

April 3
    Underway as before. In Northern Gulf Stream current. Water temp went from 25 ^o to 48 ^o in 10 mins. Nice weather - warm & sunny. Rec'd submarine warnings from escort convoy 2 days ahead in trouble. Passed desbris. Sighted floating raft. Empty.

April 4
    Underway as before. Sea very bad. 1500 - Escorts dropping depth charges off Port Beam, approx. 3 miles away. Several u-boats in vicinity. Everyone at ease. Like Hell.

April 6
    General Quarters at 0225. Sleeping in clothes., I grabbed my life jacket, went to my battle sta. In main engine room. Underwater explosions rock ship. Not us, thank God, but close. Tanker ahead of us blew in half--oil on water afire--full speed ahead--ship to port hit in stern & sinking.--heavy blow on our stern.--Port rudder fails to answer wheel.--Port screw shaft vibrating heavily.--escorts dropping depth charges -- I'm praying. Reserve ship drives into burning oil to pick up survivors -- not many. Freighter sinking--bow high. Rescue ship using flares --they got guts. We're trying to joke a little but it don't work. Beneath the water line here. Kept busy checking all equipment. - a2 hrs. later Gen. Quarters secured --Later that day, ran into more debris. Convoy ahead of us must be catching hell. 1940 - sunset Alert, subs in vicinity. Fog coming up. Hurray.

April 7
    Night passed ok. Everyone kind of wound up. Subs detected still in vicinity. One sub sank last night. 1500 - bad storm coming up and are we glad to see it. 1800 - storm at hurricane velocity.

April 8
    Storm raging--waves 30-40 ft. high crashing on deck & carrying away small gear --screws leaping out of water, racing, then crashing back in, shaking ship like a wet dog. Must keep heading into waves. Engine failure could swamp us.

April 9
    Storm abated somewhat but sea still running high, about 20 feet or so. Convoy spread out many miles -- spent all day reforming. Escorts report sea cleared of subs. Nearing Ireland.

April 10
    Beautiful day. Very uneventful.

April 11
    Underway as before. Weather OK. Escorts dropping depth charges at 1400. Passed uneventful day.

April 12
    Convoy splitting up -- 1340 sighted land, lovely sight. Coastline very pretty with tall, sweeping hills. 15 days since we saw land last. Port screw shaft sounds like it is coming out of bearing bed. Bearings have been running hot. Running sea water on them. Running lights turned on tonite. Forgot to say we are in Irish Sea. Greenest water I ever saw.

April 13
    Underway as before. left convoy at 1200. Going thru another mine field. Topics of conversation. Pay, English women, liberty. Boston left us broke. I've got 10 cts. to my name.

April 14
    Arrived at our destination. Ordered to proceed to Falmouth.

April 15
    Arrived Falmouth, Devonshire, Eng. Passed through sub net. Small harbor nestled between hills. Three masts sticking out of water. German planes over recently. Barrage balloons flying all over the harbor. Gun emplacement on every hill.

April 16
    Went up a small river, tilted ship and dumped Lct off our main deck. We've carried it from Mobile.

April 17
    Liberty. What a letdown. Town of 13,000 civilians and God knows how many servicemen. Women homely and shabby. A Red Cross canteen --small. Not much there. Two movie houses. Pubs small and scarce. Usually sold out of their watery, flat beer. No whiskey. Pardon, I mean spirits. Many bombed out places, tank traps, barbed wire.

April 18
    Stayed aboard & loafed. Very busy harbor. 3 Free French destroyers came in. Coast Guard P.A. troopship here also.

April 19
    Very windy, rainy. Went ashore. met Geo. Dewey. Went to Diesel school with me at Columbia & Cleve. He's been here 11 months. Oh my back. He should be talking to himself by now. Had a couple of Bitters before supply ran out.

April 20
    Andrews & I took a bus to Penzance. Pretty scenery. Nothing else. Pretty well on to this Limey money now.

April 21
    Underway at 1430 into drydock here. Port rudder missing. Also blade from port screw. Sheared off by dud torpedo. We are a lucky ship.

April 22
    Still in dry dock--Getting new screw & rudder. Went ashore, saw a movie.

April 23
    Same as Apr. 22

April 24
    Left drydock at 0700. Anchored in harbor. Ashore again. Bored again. Liberty ends before dark as small boats after dark are fired on.

April 25
    077 --Underway for Southhampton. Joined small convoy. 1400 General Qtrs. 115 secured, planes were fortresses coming back from Germany. 2140. Anchored, air raids ahead. Watched air raid on town up the coast. Enemy didn't see us. Anti-aircraft very pretty till we saw a plane bust into flame & fall. Bombs flashed in the heart of the town. Lovely welcome.

April 26
    Underway at 0200. All quiet. All the harbors along here are collecting points for invasion ships. Jerry drops in every nite to discourage us. Nice. Sleepless nites ahead. Ship in convoy hit a mine. Tough. We wait while minesweepers go to work. Ship sinks. Wonder how many got it. German planes last nite dropped free mines in the channel among other things.

April 27
    Still waiting till channel is cleared. 0140. Gen Qtrs. Here comes the unwelcome visitors. Its us this time. Opened fire. Sky like 4th of July. Searchlites sweeping the sky like swords. Bombs not very near -- at least 2000 yds. 0245 -  Secured, hit the sack. 0330 - Gen. Qtrs., repeat performance. The day, thank God, was quiet.

April 28
    Still at anchor. Two more air raids, 0110 and 0315. Getting damn tiresome already. 0800 underway up Southhampton channel, past Isle of Wight, passed Portsmouth, Netley. Anchored at Calshot, about 10 miles downstream from Southhampton.

April 29
    Still at anchor. Good Lord, the ships here. Mammoth transports, freighters, tankers, Lst's, LCT's, LCI's, DE's, Lcup's, and others I've never seen before. All day long ships pass us going up to Southhampton empty & come back loaded with troops & equipment. What a sight. Stood on deck & counted 560 ships today, and this is just one anchorage in the harbor. No air raids. Bad weather is the reason. Full nites sleep. What a luxury.

April 30
    Underway at 1200. Up to Southhampton docks - unloading cargo. American negro troops doing the work. Again no raids. Good enough.

May 1
    Docked as before. liberty tonite. Went sightseeing the town on trolleys (pardon--trams) Not an awful lot left to see. At least half the town demolished, or damaged. No raid.

May 2
    Docked as before. Ashore again. Beer & whiskey shortage is pitiful. British 8th Army (some units) are here & they don't like Americans. Trouble all the time. We're not allowed to wander around alone. Only in groups. The American Indian (damn niggers) have made quite a hit with some of the English babes here. Its a common sight to see white women & niggers together. Even necking in the park. Good God.

May 3
    1930 - Underway, left dock 2110. At anchor about a mile from Portsmouth.

May 4
    Anchored as before. Large fighter base on near shore. Plenty of activity. Air raid at 0210. Passed us & went on to Southhampton. 2 flamers. Dont know whose.

May 5
    Anchored as before. Large bomber formation, escorted by P-28's passed over at breakfast. One raid last night, seemed to be on Isle of Wight, a few miles down the bay. Plenty of fire works. One bomber blew up when it got a direct hit on its bomb bay.

May 6
    Anchored as before. What a soft life. No raid.

May 7
    Anchored as before. Formation of 150 bombers (Limey) passed over this morning, headed East. T.S. for the Germans.

May 8
    Anchored as before. Not much doing. Raided again last nite. Small number of fast light bombers. fighters & flak drove them off. What a damn nuisance.

May 9
    Anchored as before. What an easy life. No liberty tho. We figure about a month yet before the invasion.

May 11
    Anchored as before. Went ashore today at Ryde, Isle of Wight. Good liberty. Plenty of brown ale. Some spirits. Few girls. They don't look so homely now.

May 12
    Anchored as before. The rest of our Flotilla arrived from Plymouth. Coming up the coast last night they were attacked by E-boats, 10 miles from here. One sunk, one blown up (magazine hit) another badly damaged. Very few survivors. Most of those in water run down by E-boats, defending escorts, and rest of ships in convoy. Poor devils.

May 13
    Underway at 0800, moved up closer to Ryde. Air raid near last nite, but not here. Nice show.

May 14
    Underway at 0800, moved around Isle of Wight to Cowes. Anchored.

May 15
    Anchored at Cowes, I o W. 3 Raids last nite. Dont know how many they got on the first two but the searchlites caught 3 Jerries on the third raid. They dumped their loads to try & get away. We saw the bombs fall, and it seemed like each plane was held up on stilts of tracers. One German plane simply disintegrated. The other two burst into flame. The searchlite caught one parachute & followed it down. Shells and flack chunks fell all around us and fragments clanked on the deck incessantly. No reminders necessary to wear helmets now. -- 0630 Underway. 1845 Arrived at Plymouth without incident.

May 16
    At anchor in Plymouth harbor. Several cruisers & destroyers here. Ashore today. Boy has this town taken a beating. Whole blocks destroyed in the downtown district. In the middle of town in some places you can see for blocks. Overrun with Servicemen. Many niggers. Some of them married to white girls here. Fights common. These girls think they are lucky. Plan to go back to the States, become citizens & live happily ever after. What have these black bastards been telling them.

May 17
    What a hangover. Several of us got some gin last nite. I never drank it much, and wont again.

May 18
    Underway at 0947. Heading for Southhampton. Had to anchor on the way. Jerries dropped more free mines last nite.

May 19
     Underway at 0500. Arrived Southhampton at 1800.

May 21
    Anchored near Isle of Wight. Liberty at Cowes, O of W. Town small & dead. Took a bus to Newport. Saw a movie "Hoppalong Cassidy." Liberty up before dark because of air raids.

May 22
    Anchored as before. Air raid alarm at 0120 but no planes. Secured 0200.

May 23
    Anchored as before. Bad air raid last nite. Plenty of bombs on S.hampton and lots of flak. No planes downed that I could see. Rest of day uneventful.

May 24
    The Supply Officers, CBM and I went over to the Flagship of our task force. we are in the British Assault force, and had a personnel inspection by King George, the First Lord of the Admiralty and lots more Gold braid. Then the king reviewed the fleet of small landing craft. Very impressive.

May 25
    Anchored as before. Very rough weather. No liberty.

May 26
     Underway at 1500, Anchored by Netley Hospital. No liberty.

May 27
    Anchored as before. Liberty in Cowes & Newport. Saw another movie. Not much else to do.

May 28
    Air raid alert at 0100. No planes showed up. About 70 medium U.S. bombers passed over this morning heading for Germany. T.S for Jerry.

May 29
    Anchored as before. English doctors and about 30 R. A. medical corpsmen moved aboard. Air raid at 2400 last nite. One bomber dived at our group and was driven off badly damaged. He crash landed on shore and his bombs blew up. Very entertaining. Rest of day routine. Englishmen fixing up operating room on the tank deck, we took 350 stretchers aboard.

May 30
    Anchored as before. Hear rumor invasion within 3 days. Working hard to be ready.

May 31
    Anchored as before. Finished operating room. All ready for battle. Very hot weather. No liberty since May 27. Ship sealed till after invasion.

June 1
    Anchored as before. Have over 90,000 gals of fuel oil on board. Will have to refuel small craft at beachhead,. Lovely. Distributed anti-gas suits to crew.

June 2, 1944
    Underway at 2400 last nite. Pulled into hard. A sort of brick street that leads into the water. Opened bow doors & let down ramp. Took combat units aboard, jeeps, trucks and six amphibious trucks. All trucks full of ammunition. Comforting thought. 0900 -- Through loading, pulled out. Bad current. Our bow swung around and hit a freighter. Not much damage. The number of ships loaded around here is staggering. Must be over 2000. Invasion near.

June 3
    Anchored near Cowes. Ships anchored here like cars parked at a World Series. Collisions constantly.

June 4:
    Anchored as before (Cowes). 0900 Entire crew meets in crews qtrs. Captain briefs us for D-day. There will be 4 beachheads. Juno Beach will be Canadian assault force. Gold Beach will be British Assault Force (us), Omaha and Utah Beaches will be American. Canadians on the north of Seine estuary. We on the center. Americans on the south at base of Cherbourg peninsula. Paratroopers will drop in France at D-6 hours. Rather D-1.

    D-day is June 5. H-hour is 0615. Our force has 1 Battleship, 18 destroyers, 118 corvettes, 30 mine sweepers, 2000 planes, air cover and several landing craft, rocket gun boats. Our beach has one big gun and six small gun emplacements to knock out. We will not beach but will ferry our load in on barges. 1800 - D-day postponed 24 hours. Very bad weather.

June 5: D-Day (-1)
    Tense day. Underway at 19.50. Traveling at 5 knots through the dark.

June 6 D-Day
    0500. Quite a distance off French coast. Hundreds of bombers & fighters shuttling over. Ships in column as far as you can see, any direction. News broadcast says Germans reporting paratroopers landed in the nite, and heavy bomber action on French coast between LeHavre and Cherbourg peninsula. Germans nervously report commando raids south of Seine estuary. We are at battle stations. Near beach. Hear warships shelling the beach and working back up to the hidden gun emplacements. We pass them. Over us, wave after wave of heavy, medium and fighter bombers dive down and plaster the beach and every suspicious object. The mines on the beach are exploding from concussions and planes strafing. Barbed wire, and steel rail entanglements are disappearing. We move in closer. The first wave of landing craft have hit the beach. They were ducks, and almost every one grounded on mines. The first men to hit the beach are dead, wounded, and weaponless. They didn't last long. The succeeding waves come in, one after another. They made it by sheer weight of numbers. Things are behind schedule, so the bigger ships are trying to get in - tank lighters, LC1's, and LCT's. They are not successful. We have dropped anchor. Won't go in today we hear. The beach strip is in our hands but it looks like a junkyard. Good God, so much smashed equipment. The mines are exploding constantly. Back in the hills, the cruisers shells are raising hell. An ammo dump back there goes up and raises a tremendous cloud of smoke. The wrecked landing craft are burning high & dry on the beach as the tide runs out. Now we can see the under water entanglements that wrecked so many boats. As the water recedes, the boats are hung on them. Also bodies. Some bodies drift by the ship on the outgoing tide. Amphibious trucks are coming alongside, as we are the nearest to the beach of the big ships, full of wounded. We haven't unloaded our cargo and can't take them. It's rough water --- those craft and must be hell on the poor bastards. The 1st aid clearing station is set up in a wrecked concrete pillbox. But not long, It got a direct hit from a German gun back in the hills. We wonder how the other beaches are making out. We are only about 1000 yards inland and the troops have paid, to us, what seems a hell of a price. I have seen so many things today, I can't write of them all, and don't want to. No enemy planes, thank God.

2300 - It has just turned dark. There were planes overhead a few minutes ago and all hell broke loose. What a concentration of flak. Low hanging clouds kept the planes out of sight. No bombs. Down the coast - south, where the other beach is there is a heavy attack. The bomb bursts are tremendous. An oil tanker is burning brilliantly. The long lines of tracers weave like snakes as they climb in the wind. Now its quiet and we try to get some sleep.

June 7, 1944 (D-Day + 1)
    0120 - Air raid which lasted the remainder of the nite. At least, the ships kept firing intermittently, but no bombs dropped, no planes fell. Still raising hell down the coast. The beach is 4 miles deep this morning, we hear. The waves of planes come over at first light & continue all day, blasting the hills. The warships are still shelling. -- 1430 Underway into the beach. Arrived o.k. What a hell of a mess it is close hand. The mines still go off, and safe areas on the beach are marked off with white tape. Most of the beach is still the dangerous area. Bulldozers, a couple got ashore, are scraping out a half ass road for trucks, tanks & people to use. Bodies are being collected as fast as the areas around them can be de-mined. Except in case of wounded. The medics go after them, in spite of mines and all. And a lot have been killed or maimed. The germans have a fiendish bastard of a one that blows off your legs and throws scrap metal into your crotch. Our cargo is off and we're getting lots of wounded like that. The medics on board are working like mad. The two doctors are operating continuously. The tide has gone out so we are high and dry. it is getting dark, and the tide is coming in. We help carry in wounded. We have accomodations for 300. Already we have 480 and still they come. We cram them into every available space. Several are Jerries. They're scared. Expect to be shot. But they get the same treatment as ours. Four men have died. The tide is coming in. We pull off the beach sometime around 0200 tomorrow, I hope.

June 9, 1944   D + 3
    0045 -- Theres a hell of a raid going on. I have been on deck watching. We have the engines running, ready to head for the beach if we're hit. A Corvette, about a half mile away is blown up & sunk. They were firing and the Jerry dived down their tracer & blasted it. We hear screaming, and our small boat goes over for survivors. They dont find any. A duck finds 3. We take them. LST 920 gets hit on the stern & sinks slowly. Slowly enough to get the wounded off on some big barges. Then a tanker got hit & blayed up, lighting up the harbor. Theres a curtain of shells going up. The search lite on the beach catches a Jerry. He dives on it & machine guns it out. Then he tried to climb and his wing was shot off. He hit the beach at a hell of a clip and rolled over burning, and smashing thru men and equipment. Its as bright as day now, what with the tanker, the plane and several trucks burning. The cruiser is nearby and its pom poms are going whump -- The wounded down below are yelling and the medics are giving hypos to quiet them. Two of the Jerries have died.
    1000  Underway - Joining a convoy.
    2115  Anchored at Ryde, I. of W. Sleep!!

June 10, 1944  D + 4
    0720  Underway for Portsmouth.
    0830  Docked at Portsmouth. Large crowds gathered as we removed the wounded to an endless stream of ambulances. Everyone waved at us, My God. We're heros. What a laugh. We are first ship back is all. 1300. Finished unloading & moved back to Ryde. Everyone hit the sack.

June 11, 1944
    Anchored as before, resting. We'll load up & go back soon. Rec'd word the U-boats are in the channel.

June 12, 1944
    Anchored as before. 0130  Underway. 1059  Docked at the hard, Southhampton  Loading American soldiers & equip. Field artillery & armored cars.
    1615  Underway. Chaplain of the soldiers heard confession, said Mass on deck. At 2000. Heading into channel. 5 LST's, no escort. They need us badly.

June 13, 1944
    Underway as before. 0235  Gen. qtrs. No action. 0333  secured. -0345  Small convoy ahead attacked by E boats, intense surface, we man guns. Allied planes coming down & attacking E-boats, flares first, then bombs. We leave them behind. One E-boat in flames.  0515  Gen. qtrs. secured again. Dawn, thank the Lord.  0800, Anchored at Omaha beach, American beachhead. This was really a hellhole. 800 casualties within 1 hour after the 1st wave hit. Had to storm the Jerry gun emplacements. Bombs & shells couldn't knock them out. Lots of wreckage here. There is a small beach, then steep hills. Very hard to land. On June 10, the Americans were in 16 miles, but that nite the 17 Panzers broke thru & got within 2 miles of the beach, but were cut to pieces & pushed back. They haven't had time to get all the snipers in the hills & bullets whip into the beach every so often even now.  1806 , On the beach. Sneaked off the ship & looked around. Saw a prisoner pen. Some French women snipers are prisoners here too. They will be shot. There is an airfield up on one of the hills already. First one in France. Wounded coming aboard now. Very few prisoners at this beach. The boys found too many paratroopers hung in the trees by Germans who hated them. The boys are so mad they aren't taking many prisoners.

June 14, 1944
    At 0400, moved off the beach. Bombing raids going on all nite. Impressive show. Saw two flamers go down. Anchored about 2 miles off the beach. Quiet day. except for mines going off all over, on shore.  2300 - Evening entertainment started with Gen. Qtrs and the heaviest air raid here yet. The Jerries really gave the harbor hell. Strong wind blowing and tracers are weaving all over the sky like snakes. LST 30, about 200 yds away, opened up and got a German bomb off her stern. Killed most of the After gun crews. We can hear them screaming, the wounded I mean. We tossed smoke pots into the water, one was faulty & burned like a flare. It drifted only a few yards off where a Jerry strafed it, just missing the ship. Harbor is blanketed in smoke now.

June 15, 1944
    Raid still going on. I am writing this next day. LST 30, only had 7 men killed, 11 wounded.
    0400,  Air raid over.   1107  Underway for England, about 50 ships.
    2230  Anchored at Ryde.  2330, Underway for Portsmouth.

June 16, 1944
    0030  Docked at Portsmouth. Unloaded wounded and loaded up with Canadians.  0715  Left the dock.
    1000 Underway for Juno Beach. Passed LST 280, being towed in stern first, her whole bow blown off. An E-boat got her, the radio man says.
    2230  Arrived Juno and went right in to beach. Beach under smoke screen and Jerry came over at 2300, as we prepared to unload. Bombs landing in the Harbor. Flak as usual, very intense.

June 17, 1944
    Still unloading and Jerry still raising hell. 3 flamers down, but dont know who they are. An allied pilot would be nuts to come over here. 2 Spitfires have been shot down by the flak here, and 1 hospital plane at Omaha, all by overanxious ships guns.  0740  Off the beach and headed for England.
2100 arrived at Ryde.  2110 Pulling into dock at Portsmouth. Taking on English soldiers & trucks.

June 18, 1944
    0015 all loaded, & pulling away from dock. Anchored near Ryde. 0130  Special British tug carrying mail, pulled alongside. At 2000, mail call, and everyone got up for it. Brother what a welcome sight.  1000  Underway to France, Gold beach again. 2300  Arrived, Gold beach. 2345  On the beach.

June 19, 1944
    Intermittent air raids going on. Unloading our cargo   0700  Started for England.  2300,  haven't reached I. of W. so we figure we're going to London.  2330  Robot plane overhead. First we've seen. They sound like a tractor and you can see them easily by there tail flare. 3 more passed over before 2400.

June 20, 1944
    0400, Passing thru Strait of Dover, hugging the English coast. Entered Thames estuary & heading upriver.  2300,  In heart of London.  2330  Loading up.  Four buzz bombs as they call them here have hit in the last hour. They hit blocks away but you can feel the blast. They have a hell of a whallop. It is almost as bad as the Blitz, but British censorship won't let the outside world know.

June 21, 1944
    Still loading.  Ajet plane hit about 5 blocks away at 0135 and the ship rocked. Debris has landed on the deck. Still, they come over, about 1 every 15 minutes. They are the damndest things. How these Londoners hate them, Will be glad to get out of here, the beachhead is safer.  0800, Out of London.  1300  Anchored at Southend, Thames estuary. Liberty from 1700 to 2100. Good liberty town. First liberty since 3 weeks before D-Day. But only a few hours.

June 22, 1944
    0830 Underway. Good escort. Corvettes laying smoke screen in Straits of Dover.  1800, in the Straits, going like hell. The German long range artillery has opened up, but are firing blindly.  An E boat tried to attack the convoy, but was driven off by planes, it hid in the smokescreen.  2230, Escorts dropping depth charges. Too late, one LST has been torpedoed. The whole stern has been blown off. Poor bastards. Thats the crews quarters. No further attack.  No trace of the U boat.

June 23, 1944
    Underway, still at Gen. qtrs. No trouble.  0930, more depth charges, right near us on Stbd. side. The whole ship is ringing from them. Down in the engine room, we thought we'd been hit.  1230  Arrived at Gold beach.  1400  beached.  1500  Starting to unload.  1630  Unloaded and we are playing football on the beach. A lone Jerry pilot spotted the crowd of Limeys watching the game & dived down to strafe us. We scattered and every gun on the beach opened up. The Jerry never pulled out of the dive, but hit the beach about 150 ft. from the ship. We all ran up, but it was burning like hell. Had to watch all those souvenirs burn up. No more football.

June 24, 1944
    0003  Enemy planes dropping flares & bombs, and during which, we are pulling off the beach. Collided with a Limey pulling off and tore off a boat davit.  0330  Air raids over. We are anchored a few miles out.  0930  Underway. Uneventful crossing. Anchored near Southhampton at 2100. Quiet nite.

June 25, 1944
    Anchored all day, sleeping. From 2100 to 2400, robot bombs came over one after another and crashed all over the harbor and Southhampton. God, what a dirty fight. Theres nothing you can do except sit around and watch them fall.

June 26, 1944
    Robot bombs stopped about 0230, the last one hit a big gas tank, on the outskirts of the city. It went up like a volcano.  1300  Underway  1400  in drydock at Portsmouth. Liberty 1800-2300.  Hurray.

June 27, 1944
    In drydock, getting new screws again. Was on liberty last nite, had a good time, show and a couple of ales. Going again at 1400.

June 28, 1944
    In dry dock. You should see the shot up ships in here. And they are the few that got back. Saw 3 Scotsmen in town last nite in kilts. Oh, were the guys ragging them. It ended in a fight in front of a pub. Going on liberty again today.

June 29, 1944
    1300, left drydock and tied up at a pier. Had a survivor aboard from an LST torpedoed by E boats. He was off the 346, torpedoed before D-Day. He was in the water hanging on a life raft with 30 other guys. When they were rescued 4 hours later, there were only 8. In all 3 LST's were torpedoed, all from our flotilla, on May 12. Out of 600 men, 200 survived.

June 30, 1944
    Still at dock. Have been on liberty every nite. Getting anxious to get going again.

July 1, 1944
    1700  Underway to a loading ramp. Loading British Churchill tanks. 2100  Underway, anchored off Ryde.

July 2, 1944
    0600  Underway for Gold beach. The Germans have broken thru and are pushing the British into the sea. The beach is under German shellfire again. American forces have come up by land from Omaha & Utah to help. At 2200 we are on the beach, unloading the tanks. The Limeys are desperately in need of them. Two German spotter planes came over dropping flares andtried to spot their field artillery on us. There are several LST's unloading tanks. Its an inkey black nite. The shells are walking down the hills, as the Jerries are getting the range.
Its later now.  Both spotter planes were shot down, also two P-38's that came over the beach to help us. It is about 0400, July 3.

July 3, 1944
    The Jerries finished up last nite with a hell of a raid. We had a good smoke screen up and they dumped their bombs in bunches as allied fighters jumped them. They missed the beach. Two planes came down in flames. dont know who they were.  at 0700 off the beach. Heading for England.  2200  Arrived Southhampton without incident.

July 4, 1944
    At  0100, pulled into the Hard and started loading Americans. Heard the German thrust on Gold beach was broken, but it was a close one.  0800, finished loading & pulled out anchoring at I. of W.

July 5, 1944
    Underway at 0100. Arrived Utah beach at 1230 and beached immediately. Strolled around beach. Still clearing away wreckage, but there is still a lot left. Plenty of work being done here. Got a scare. Some damn fool was fooling around a 40 m/m a.a. gun & accidently let off a burst, He got a barrage balloon. By that time everyone was firing, and there was nothing to shoot at. 2130, Off the beach.

July 6, 1944
    Quiet nite. Anchored off the beach.  0300  Underway for England. 1800, Anchored off I. of W.  Quiet trip.

July 7, 1944
    0300  Underway to Southhampton Hard.  0540  Loading American gas trucks for the airfield over there.  1000 Pulled off hard, 1230, Anchored near Ryde.

July 8, 1944
    0015  Underway. 1230  Arrived Omaha beach. 1400  Beached.  1600  Unloading  2000  Off the beach.  Quiet nite

July 9, 1944
    1000 Underway for England. Arrived I. of W. at 2100. Quiet trip. Getting monotonous.

July 10, 1944
    0630 Underway. 0730 at Southhampton Hard, loading American soldiers & equipment. 1100, Pulled off Hard, anchored near I. of W.

July 11, 1944
    0015  Underway.  Robot planes passing overhead, aimed at S.Hampton. We all took pot shots at them. Shot down one Spitfire, no robot planes. There will be hell raised about that. The Old Man is tearing his hair & cussing the gunners.
1400  Arrived Omaha beach. Walt & I took a walk into the hills behind the beach, dodging M.P.s. Lots of the fields were still mined, so we stuck to the paths. Found a lot of trenchs and a field gun. It was really hidden. The ground was all pock marked from bombs & shells. Finally we came to the 1st American cemetary. Boy is it big, and just contains D-Day's Dead. We looked around a bit. An awful lot of guys are dying over here. And they aren't telling much about that part of it back home. Getting dark. We returned to the ship.

July 12, 1944
    Underway at 0200 and off the beach. Quiet nite except a 0230 a bunch of Jerries came down & straffed a light on the beach. The light was a gasoline dump for the Engineers trucks and a lot of A cards went up in smoke. The Jerries got away.
    1000 Underway for England. Arrived near I. of W. at 2200.

July 13, 1944
    Underway at 1430. 0510 pulled into Southhampton Hard. While we were there, another LST, the 520 pulled up alongside us, unloaded paratroopers back from France. They got quite a reception. Lots of photographers, also a band.
1400, Finished loading American equipment & pulled off. Anchored at 1445 off I. of W.

July 14, 1944
    0015  Underway. Arrived Utah beach at 1300. Passed LST 327 being towed to England, the whole stern blown off. Cheering sight. 1800 Beached.

July 15, 1944
    0100  Air raid about 2 miles up the beach. Two ships hit. lots of flak. One plane burst into flames but those eager beavers on the Ack Ack followed it down, pouring shells into it. I wouldn't fly over those beaches for love or money. A P-47 came over day before yesterday and was shot down even tho he showed recognition flares. He parachuted into the water without a scratch. Then two small boats raced to see who could pick him up first. They both reached him at once and broke the pilots leg, could not stop in time. I guess the pilot was speechless with rage. I don't blame him.
0800, off the beach. 1000  Underway to England. 2200  Anchored off I. of W. Quiet trip.

July 16, 1944
    0500  Pulled into Southhampton Hard. Loading up.  1300, Pulled off the Hard.  1340  Anchored off Cowes, I. of W.

July 17, 1944
    0015 Underway. Arrived Utah Beach at 1400. The masts of 3 LSTs are sticking out of the water from a skip bomb attack, made since we were at Utah last, July 14 and 15. The raid was last nite while we were in England. One of them is the 920, but I don't know the other 2. Ran into the LCT & crew that we brought across the Atlantic. They came aboard to shoot the sh breeze. They were surprised to see us. They had heard we had been sunk.  2100  Beached. 294 beached next to us. They had heard on their radio we had been torpedoed. Who's telling those things.

July 18, 1944
     Quiet nite. 0900  Pulled off the beach. On our way to Omaha to get a convoy. 1000  Arrived Omaha  1100  Underway. 1200 Our escort corvette just hit a mine. Sinking by the bow. We are turning back to Omaha. German planes dropped mines again last nite I guess, or a sub sowed them. Minesweepers called by radio. Anchored at Omaha. Most of the corvette's crew was saved.  1600  Underway again.

July 19, 1944
    0300  Arrived England. 1100  Underway to Southhampton hard. Had liberty while ship loaded up. Saw a movie. dropped into Red Cross for a sandwitch & Pepsi cola.  2000  back to ship. 2010  Underway down channel. Anchored at 2300 at Cowes.

July 20, 1944
    0100  Underway. Arrived Utah at 1400. Heavy fog all day. 1445 hit the beach.  2200 Pulled off the beach 7 anchored.

July 21, 1944
    Quiet nite. Lot of flak 7 heavy bombing or shelling up Cherbourg Peninsula. Nothing near us.
1300  Underway for England. Weather very rough.

July 22, 1944
    0200  Anchored near Cowes. 0900 Underway to S.H. hard. Had liberty while loading up.  1200  Pulled off hard. Anchored near I. of W. Paid today. Hell of a lot of good that does us.

July 23, 1944
    Underway for France. Arrived Omaha beach at 1200.  1400  Beached.

July 24, 1944
    0200. Pulled off the beach & anchored. Big bombfest between 0300 and 0400. Most of them hit the beach were we had just pulled off. No ships were hit, but shore activities took a beating. Several Jerries were shot down. Two flamers, and more we heard about this morning.  1100  Underway for Eng.  2345 Anchored off Cowes. Our 13th trip since D-Day. Quiet nite.

July 25, 1944
    0600  Underway -- at Southhampton Hard at 0700.  Unloaded 35,000 lbs. of mail we carried back from France. Loaded with niggers. Damn it. They are smelly & dirty & usually louse up the ship.  2000, anchored off I. of W.

July 26, 1944
    0100  Underway for France. Arrived 1230.  Beached at 1430 at Utah. Bad air raid here two nites ago. Two more freighters sunk. Our Captain says we have been trailed by u boats last three trips. Only our escorts have kept them off.

July 27, 1944
    0200, Pulled off the beach & anchored. At 1000, we took aboard 450 German prisoners. All very young or very old. Very dirty & ragged. Wolfed down the Army C rations we gave them. How low the Supermen have fallen.

July 28, 1944
    Arrived at Cowes & anchored at 0200.  0700, Pulled into Southhampton Hard & unloaded prisoners.  1000 Pulled out into midstream & anchored. Got a 48 hr layover for the ship. I'm off for liberty. 22 hrs. passes. Its unbelievable.

July 29, 1944
    Liberty OK. Not much doing in Southhampton after 1100 at nite. Am going to try for London tonite. Its about 80 mi or so.

July 30, 1944
    Went to London last nite. Left S-hampton at 1320, arrived London 1700. Stood up in 3rd class carriage all the way up. had a good time. Had to take the 0230 train this morning. Had queue up at 0115. Boy are the trains crowded. I don't know if I ever mentioned how you have to queue up for everything in England. Pubs, movies, restaurants, trains, buses, everything. Americans at home dont know what annoyances are. Imagine waiting in line 2 hrs for a train just to get standing room. They do it here for every train, old & young, families, everyone.

July 31, 1944
   0700   Pulled into the Hard to load up. Getting Free French in American uniforms & equipment. None of them have been home for five years. 1400  Pulled off Hard. Anchored near I. of W. at 1600

Aug 1, 1944
    0300  Underway.  Arrived Utah beach at 1100.  1700  beached.  Quiet nite.

Aug 2, 1944
    0600,  Pulled off the beach and anchored. 1200, joined convoy for England.   1420  Escort dropping depth charges, 1 mile to Stbd.  1430  All quiet.  2200  Anchored off Cowes.

Aug 3, 1944
    0600,  Pulled into Southhampton Hard.   1200,  Loaded up, pulled off ramp & anchored.

Aug 4, 1944
    0030  Underway.  1100 Omaha beach. 1300 On the beach, unloading. 1700 Took on 715 German P.O.W.s  Several ranking officers. One was a commander in German Navy. Officers very arrogant. Prisoners sullen, except when we sold them candy & cigarettes. Charged them 500 francs a pack (10$ current exchange), watches, rings, etc.  2200 Off the beach.

Aug 5, 1944
    1200 Underway. 2230 Anchored at Cowes.

Aug 6, 1944
    2300,  Pulled into Hard & unloaded P.O.W.s.  0800  Loading troops & equipment.  1130  Pulled off Hard & anchored.

Aug 7, 1944
    0030.  Underway for France.  1145  Arrived Utah beach.  1500  Beached.  Unloaded & took aboard 60 German officers.

Aug 8, 1944
    0300 Pulled off beach & anchored.  1200  Underway in convoy for England.  2300 Anchored off Cowes.

Aug 9, 1944
    0800  Pulled into S. Hard & unloaded prisoners.  1200 Pulled off Hard & anchored.

Aug 10, 1944
    Pulled into Hard & loaded up.  1200 loaded, anchored off I. of W.

Aug 11, 1944
       0730 Underway in convoy. Heavy fog, clearing up tho. 1700 Arrived Utah beach, and beached.

Aug 12, 1944
    0800 Pulled off beach. 0805 Underway for Cherbourg, towing long flat, blunt-bowed barge (called technically a "Rhino")  1600 Arrived Cherbourg and anchored. Heavy destruction here.  3 huge forts here, piles of rubble now. The effect of those 2,000 pound bombs is inconceivable. The sea wall had been demolished. We had made one in three hrs.  22 Liberty ships tied in a line & sunk made a satisfactory sea wall. Still burning in some parts of town. Mines and demolition squads make it seem like a battle is still going on. H.M.S. Nelson, British battleship still offshore firing broadsides at fortifications back on a large hill. Can see the bursts thru binoculars.  2000  Underway for England. Left the Rhino at Cherbourg.

Aug 13, 1944
    9400 Anchored off Cowes.  1230 liberty.

Aug 14, 1944
    Liberty 4.0 last nite. Went to Bournemouth on the sea. Liberty again tonite. I can't get enough of it.

Aug 15, 1944
    Went to a dance at the Guildhall Southhampton -- very 4.0 Took a WREN back to her barracks. The blackout isn't so bad after all. Stayed at Red Cross dormitory last nite.  1500 Pulled into the Hard & loaded up.  1900  Anchored at Cowes.

Aug 16, 1944
    Midnite, Underway in convoy.  1100 Arrived Omaha beach & went right in. 2100 Off the beach and headed for England. Anchored at Cherbourg 2300, E-boats & our PT's battling in the Channel. Can hear the battle noises & see fires far out in channel.

Aug 17, 1944
    1100  Underway for England. Lost two PT's last nite.  Germans lost 3 E boats, rest fled into the dark when RAF arrived. Anchored off I. of W. 2100.

Aug 18, 1944
    Anchored as before. Nothing new. Rumors of S. Pacific duty soon

Aug 19, 1944
    0900 Pulled into Hard & loaded up. 1200 Anchored off the Needles, Isle of Wight.

Aug 20, 1944
    Midnite: Underway in convoy.  1215 Arrived Utah beach. -- 1600  On the beach.

Aug 21, 1944
    Bad storm came up last nite. When we tried to pull off the beach the wind & waves drove us back on. Storm died down about 0700 and we pulled off and anchored.  1100 Underway for England.  Arrived and anchored at Cowes 2200.

Aug 22, 1944
    Anchored as before. Liberty --  I'm off.

Aug 23, 1944
        Dance again last nite. Got acquainted with a telephone operator.  Nice number.  0800 Pulled into Hard.  1300 Loaded up,  pulled off Hard & anchored off Needles.

Aug 24, 1944
    Underway at midnite. Arrived Omaha beach at 1200.  1400 Beached. Went for a walk. Saw another cemetary for D-Day casualties. Called St. Mere Eglise. Most of these men were killed in Death Valley, a valley which ran inland from the beach. The Germans had it all mined and enfiladed, ambushed part of the 1st Division.

Aug 25, 1944
    1200  Started loading artillery ammunition (still on Omaha beach).  155mm ans 240 mm How. shells. They are being stacked on the tank deck loose like loaves of bread.  God, what a cargoe.  1900. Tank deck loaded six feet high, bow to stern with shells. Pulled off the beach and are underway, 3 LSTs (same kind of load) and 1 Destroyer (U.S.)

Aug 26, 1944
    2400 -- Alert, some guns manned. Have passed south of Cherbourg peninsula & are trying to slip past German occupied Jersey Islands, used for E-boat bases.  0200  Within 11 miles of Jersey and Gen. Qtrs. 0310 Plane overhead, dropped a flare. We opened fire. No bombs. 0322, shells splashed near convoy from Jerry long range artillery on Jersey Islands. Plane overhead again spotting artillery. We opened fire. Destroyer swung into Jersey Island & opened up on shore gun flashed, gaining German attention. We went on alone. Dawn came at 0430, nothing in sight. Gen. qtrs. secured. Destroyer missing. 1500 Arrived at St. Michel sur Graves, 10 mi. south of Brest. Anchored.

Aug 27, 1944
    0200 Hit the beach and started unloading ammunition.

Aug 28, 1944
    Still unloading ammo. Went ashore into St. Michel. Got some vin rouge, and 3 of us got a quart of Hennessey 3 star cognac. Cost -- 1 ctn. Chesterfields. Town still heavily mined & booby-trapped. Army only took it last week. German snipers still in the hills. Saw a German ammo dump in a cave. Can see cartridges, rifles, Luger pistols. But every inch of it is mined & U.S.A. engineers have entrance barred with white tape. Anywhere you see marked off with white tape, stay away. Returned to the ship & started in on the Hennessey. No use saving it, we may get sunk on the way back.

Aug 29, 1944
    1700  Off the beach. Lord, the cognac is liquid fire. What a nite last nite was. We had our soiree down in the machine shop. We didn't make it back to the crews qtrs.  Never again.

Aug 30, 1944
    0700  Arrived at Cherbourg. Quiet trip. Guess the Jerries weren't awake last nite. Learned our destroyer took a hell of a pounding the other nite and limped back to Plymouth. I think it was the Mallory. 1200 Underway for England.  2000 Anchored off Cowes.

Aug 31, 1944
    Underway for Portsmouth. Took on Fuel.  2100 Underway & then anchored.

Sept. 1, 1944
    1200  Pulled into hard & loaded up.  1800 Pulled off Hard.  2000 Anchored off Needles.

Sept. 2, 1944
    Midnite, Underway for France.  1200 Arrived & beached at Utah. Unloaded and at 1500 began loading 105 & 155 and 244 mm how. shells. same deal as last time. This time we added a few trailers of gasoline on the top deck. Nothing like stacking the odds against a guy. One hit, and the pieces would land in Plymouth.

Sept. 3, 1944
    1500  Pulled off beach and anchored.

Sept. 4, 1944
    1700  Underway for St. Michel. 6 LST's, 2 corvettes.

Sept. 5, 1944
    0100  Near Jersey Islands. General Qtrs.  0125, German long range guns firing on us. Very inaccurate Must be firing by radar control. 0145 Firing ceased. No hits on convoy.  Several guys change their shorts. Don't know if I ever mentioned it, but under severe bombardment, its very common for guys to lose control of themselves unconsciously.  No one thinks anything of it, its happened so often in bombing raids. Not nice reading, but war isn't nice.  0433 Dawn and all quiet.  Gen. Qtrs. secured. 0640 Arrived & beached at St. Michel. Started unloading.  Hell ___the Army MP's have arrived and everything beyond the beach is out of bounds.

Sept. 6, 1944
    Unloaded and 0410 off the beach.  Heading direct for England.  Passed Jersey Islands 40 mi. away. That's OK by us.

Sept. 7, 1944
    0600  Anchored off Cowes.  1700 Pulled into S. Hard.  2300 Loaded up, anchored off Needles.

Sept. 8, 1944
    0630 Underway for France. 1800 Arrived Utah & beached.  Began loading shells again/.  Took exam for CMOMM. Exam took 8 solid hours. Rugged.

Sept. 9, 1944
    Still loading shells. Finished Cheif Petty Officer exam this morning.

Sept. 10, 1944
    1400  Off the beach. 1600 Underway for St. Michel.  2300 Alerted.

Sept. 11, 1944
    0035  Gen. Qtrs.  0048 Jerry's first salve about 1/2 mi. astern. 0120 Quiet.  Only six salvos, all well astern.  0430 Dawn, Gen. Qtrs. secured.  1100 Arrived St. Michel. This trip getting popular.  20 LST's here. Anchored.

Sept. 12, 1944
    Anchored as before. 1600 beached.

Sept. 13, 1944
    Beached as before.  Football game between us and 515 on beach. We won.

Sept. 14, 1944
    Beached as before.  Red Cross mobile canteen, run by 3 Red Cross girls gave a movie on the beach last nite. 4.0

Sept. 15, 1944
    Got underway last nite. Quiet trip. Anchored off Cowes 1800. Liberty

Sept. 16, 1944
     Anchored as before. Liberty today.

Sept. 17, 1944
     Anchored as before. Stayed aboard & slept.

Sept. 18, 1944
     Anchored as before. Began getting ready for Commander's inspection.

Sept. 19, 1944
    Underway at 1200. 1280 Pulled on S hard & loaded up.  Stayed on Hard all nite.  Heavy fog.

Sept. 20, 1944
    Underway at 0600. Fog still bad.  Arrived Utah beach 2200, Fog lifted.

Sept. 21, 1944
    0030 On the beach  1100 Pulled off the beach,  no ammo trip, thank God. Back to England, working feverishly to get ready for inspection. We were notified that we have made more channel crossings since D-Day than any other type of cargo ship.  So what. Our captain is bucking hard for Lt. Commander and is always volunteering for extra trips, & driving the crew to impress the Flotilla Commander. The whole crew is fed up with him.

Sept. 22, 1944
    Anchored off Cowes. Still getting ready for inspection.  Discovered our Deguassing coil is bad, and we've been sailing several trips without protection from magnetic mines. The captain knew it but wouldn't report it because he was afraid he wouldn't keep his record for crossings. We went into dock for repairs.

Sept. 23, 1944
    Deguassing repairs completed-- Standing by for inspection.  1400 I leave for London, 72 hr. pass.

Sept. 24-27, 1944
    In London on pass.
    (Sept. 27) In Southhampton, ship is over in France.

Sept. 28, 1944
    Ship still in France.

Sept. 29, 1944
    Ship pulled into S. Hard & I went aboard.  1600 Pulled off Hard and anchored off Needles.

Sept. 30, 1944
    Underway for France.     1800 Arrived off Utah beach.

Sept. 31, 1944
    0500 beached. 1500 Off the beach.  1600 Underway for England.

Oct. 1, 1944
    0300 Arrived & anchored off Cowes.  1400 Pulled into S'hampton docks & tied up. Liberty.

Oct. 2, 1944
    Docked as before. Liberty.

Oct. 3, 1944
     Docked as before. Liberty.

Oct. 4, 1944
     Docked as before. Liberty.

Oct. 5, 1944
    1330 Pulled away from dock and pulled up on S. Hard. Loaded up Nigger tank destroyer unit. 1800 Left Hard,  Anchored off Needles.

Oct. 6, 1944
    0900 Underway for France. 1200 Weather turned into rising gale. Two 40 ton tanks have torn loose and are banging around on tank deck. Those damn careless niggers. Too sick now to chain them. One of the crew got his hand crushed chaining them down.  Ship is rolling & tossing very badly.  Restless nite.

Oct. 7, 1944
    0300  Anchored off Utah beach, bow & stern anchor. Waves crashing heavily.  0715  Stern anchor cable snapped and we were driven into another LST.  Waves carrying away light gear on weather deck.  Underway to keep from being driven onto beach.  3 LST's driven up on the beach.  LST 137 was driven onto a sunken barge & was broken in two. No lives lost, it was shallow water,  1730 Ran into beach.

Oct. 8, 1944
    Moved off the beach, headed for England, 1400  Anchored off Cowes. Liberty.

Oct. 9, 1944
    Something up. Captain is at conference ashore. Leaves & liberty canceled.  1600 Loading up Scottish troops. Now, we guess --- Belgium.

Oct. 12, 1944
    Anchored as before.  1400  Underway. 2030  Air raid a few miles off.  Flares & bombs. First in a long time, tho there were several buzz bombs while I was in London. Learned we are headed for Ostende Belgium.

Oct. 13, 1944
    Anchored at Thames Estuary. Was here once before shortly after D-Day. Near Southend. Barometer dropping. Learned several ships have been lost on the Belgium run thru mines.

Oct. 14, 1944
    Anchored as before.

Oct. 15, 1944
    Anchored as before -- 2100 Underway for Belgium.  Expect trouble, have inspected ship for watertite integrity. Cheif danger is from mines.  2210  Several flying bombs overhead, headed for London. Flak heavy.  One explodes with a hell of a blast.  A.A. or a fighter must have got it.

Oct. 16, 1944
    Underway as before.  1000 Arrived Ostende Belgium & anchored about 3 miles out.  Looks like a big town.  Looks to be in good shape.  1500 Underway to Ostende docks. Now we can see the damage here. The buildings are just gutted shells.  The harbor defenses are elaborate and many. It would have been suicide to attack it.  Pillbox's 6 ft. thick reinforced concrete.  Deep concrete trenches, wire, underwater entanglements.  It's a good thing the Canadians came by land.  The defenses were evacuated. They were useless against land attack. They all faced seaward. About 2 blocks from our dock, we could see entrances to the massive, concrete submarine pens. All over the docks are immense bomb craters. All over the city were the flak towers.  Concrete gun platforms on steel girders, about 75 ft. high, used against low level bombers. Most of the big buildings & towers are shot up, as fanatical German snipers held out in them.  The Germans had only left three weeks ago, and the battle area is only 25 miles to the North. The harbor is filled with sunken ships, scuttled by Germans, and ours lost by mines. Four hour liberty & I have some work to do on the main engine. What a dirty piece of luck.

Oct. 17, 1944
    The liberty party last nite had a whale of a time. Plenty of Lager beer, wine, and champagne.  They were all drunk.  No Americans here. All Limey, so the boys made a big hit.  Bought fresh fruit & ice-ream.  This is a dairy country. I shall go ashore this afternoon.  1300  damn, we are loading battle weary troops going to England for a rest. They are veterans of the 1st Airborne Army, cut to pieces at Arnheim.  1359 Underway for England, sub chaser escort.  Hope we go to London or Southend, rather than Southhampton -- maybe we'll hit Ostende again. Soon as the Scheldt pocket is cleaned out we'll go up the Scheldt Estuary to Antwerp, I think.  We are getting around a little.

Oct. 18, 1944
    Bad storm in the channel.  We rolled like hell.  A few times we thought we'd turn turtle.  We are low on fuel & water so are top heavy.  0900 -- Thames Estuary and we anchor off Southend. 1100 -- Underway  1400 -   Thru locks into Tullbury Basin. Pulled up on loading ramp and unloading our troops.   No sign of liberty. Be just like our captain to ask for a load & head out again. And us so close to London here.  Liberty at 1630.  Payday at 1900.  I'm staying aboard for pay.

Oct. 19, 1944
    Got paid last nite. $104. Made out a m.o. for $52. Mail today. Wonderful. Liberty at 1400.  Ed, Walt & I are going to London, 45 min. from here.

Oct. 20, 1944
    Liberty was o.k. Saw a show "Going My Way". Swell. Spent some time in Red Cross & in pubs.  Kidded the Picadilly Commandos. Made believe we were customers & tried to beat down the price. It was funny. Got back to the ship about 0100. Several buzz bombs in London. Saw two from our train, flying low, angling to crash on London's outskirts. These are more powerful than the old ones. Throw a hell of a sheet of flame out when they explode. Liberty tonite, but I'm not going. Andrews is, of course.

Oct. 21, 1944
    Six letters from Betts today, four from Mom, plus others. What a day. 1100, started loading up. A big gang of RAF ground forces. 415 of 'em. Where will we put 'em. 1450 Underway.  1700 Anchored off Southend. Underway again at midnite.

Oct. 22, 1944
    Arrived Ostende without incident at 1400.  Went ashore from 1830 to 1000. Heard small arms fire from the north part of the city.  Lots of collaborationists out there, districts are roped off. They fire on any allied uniform they see.  British are systematically destroying their homes by blasting as punishment. had some beer & ice cream.

Oct. 23, 1944
    Went ashore at 0900.  Wandered around buying souvenirs.  Took trolley out to north part of city & watched British patrols cleaning snipers out of houses. British officer gave us hell & chased us out.  Had more ice cream, bought a quart of champagne & came back to the ship.  Underway at 1500 for Southhampton with 500 German prisoners & snipers.  1100 Flying bombs overhead going to London. Convoy firing. Exploded two. Several got thru.

Oct. 24, 1944
    Arrived I. of W. at 1300. Docked at Southhampton hard at 1300 -- 2000 Prisoners unload, anchored off Calshot.

Oct. 25, 1944
   Anchored as before. Liberty at 1600. Began painting ship at 1300.

Oct. 26, 27, 1944
     Still at anchor. Not going on liberty. Overhauled 2 generator engines. Ground the valves & cleaned injectors. Not in bad shape even after 2700 hrs duty. Went into S'hampton machine shop & visited with Chief Jim Harris, who went to school with me in Columbia, Cleveland & Solomons. Several buzzbombs over the nite of 27, high, blown off their course to London. Watched nite fighters go after them in the searchlites.

Oct. 28, 1944
     Still at anchor. Working on generator engines. Think I'll take the liberty tonite. Got an X-Mas pkg from home yesterday. No mail for a week tho.

Oct. 29, 1944
 Still at anchor. Nothing new.

Oct. 30, 1944
     Still at anchor.

Oct. 31, 1944
    Still at anchor.

Nov. 1, 1944
     Still at anchor.  1600 Underway  1630 Arrived at S Hard.  Loading American troops.

Nov. 2, 1944
    Left S hard, moved down to the Needles & anchored.  2000 Underway for LeHavre.

Nov. 3, 1944
     1000  Arrived and anchored off LeHavre.  1500  On the beach, at LeHavre waterfront.  Went ashore on liberty at 0500.  The destruction here beats everything I've ever seen. Block after block just rubble.  Only the center of the town was relatively unscathed.  Everything else is blasted again and again. The people here hate us. They claim the Germans weren't so bad.  But we barbarians destroyed France. To hell with them.  They have about  the same brand of logic as a woman. There were 5000 Germans killed here ----- and 15,000 civilians. Liberty over at 2200.  2300 Underway.

Nov. 4, 1944
    Underway for England.  1130 anchored at Calshot.  Liberty tonite but don't feel like going. Mail.

Nov. 5, 1944
     Anchored as before.  50 mile gale blowing.  Tried to get underway to go refuel, but too dangerous.  Anchored again. Quiet day.

Nov. 6, 1944
    Anchored as before. 0930 Underway  1030 Anchored near Ryde.  1310  Tied up to a tanker - refueling.  1430 Underway to Calshot.

Nov. 7, 1944
     Anchored as before. Went into SoHampton on liberty.  Ed Cordon and I went pub crawling.  Had a swell time.

Nov. 8, 1944
    Anchored as before. Nothing doing. Raining, so I skipped liberty. That hour ride in a small boat, rough water breaking over the side and a cold semi-gale makes liberty a rugged deal.  But everyone goes regardless.  Guess I'll go in tomorrow and see "Story of Dr Wassell"  Mail today, I got one V-mail from Gram, dated Oct 26.

Nov. 9-10, 1944
     Anchored as before. Liberty-- of course.

Nov. 11, 1944
     Anchored as before. Went ashore, met Andrews (on 72 hr pass) went to a dance. Had a good time.

Nov. 12, 1944
    Anchored as before. 1200 Into 5-3 Hard. Loaded up.  2200 Underway to LeHavre.

Nov. 13, 1944
     Arrived at LeHavre. Anchored outside jetty. 1700 Beached.  Discharged Army. No liberty.  2200 Off the beach. Underway for Southhampton.

Nov. 14, 1944
    1200  Anchored off Calshot.  1400  On the beach at Ryde.  Mobile repair  unit repairing screw.  2300  Off the beach, anchored at Calshot.

Nov. 15, 1944
     Anchored as before. Payday today. Liberty also.

Nov. 16, 1944
 Underway to S-2 hard at 0900.  Loaded up. 2200 Underway to LeHavre.

Nov. 17, 1944
     1200 Arrived at Le Havre. Freighter ahead hit a mine, ripped out her bottom.  This harbor is full of sunken ships.  They are hooking pontoons alongside freighter pulling her out of the channel to the beach, to save her cargo.  God knows where the mine came from.  We are going in anyhow.  1700 beached, unloading cargo.

Nov. 18, 1944
    0330  Off the beach.  Underway to Southhampton.  Forgot to mention. The channel has been wild as hell lately.  Rain & gales all the time.  Will be that way till March.  What a prospect.  1900 Arrived at Calshot and anchored.

Nov. 20, 1944
     Anchored all day yesterday.  Went on liberty.  Today we went into s-3 Hard at 1600.  Not loading tonite, so, off on liberty.  In the rain as usual.  Why hasn't this island washed away, by now?

Nov. 21, 1944
    Loading up today.  Green troops, some were civilians on D-Day. Are they a bunch of misfits. Sure must be scraping the barrel back home.  Left s-3 Hard at 1700.  Anchored off Calshot.  Underway for Le Havre at 2200.

Nov. 22, 1944
     Arrived at Le Havre in a storm at 1200.  Beaching at 1700.  See just the masts of that freighter sticking out.  T.S.  Still no liberty -- damn it. I wanted to get some cosmetics for the barmaid at the Richmond Inn.  She fixes me up with Scotch & good ale when all the rest get only beer.

Nov. 23, 1944
    Left Le Havre at 0330.
    Arrived Calshot at 1930.

Nov. 24, 1944
     Anchored as before. Liberty.

Nov. 25, 1944
 Anchored as before.

Nov. 26, 1944
     Anchored as before. 1700 Pulled into S3 Hard.

Nov. 27, 1944
 Began loading troops.  1500 Pulled off the Hard & anchored.  2300 Underway for Le Havre.

Nov. 28, 1944
     Arrived & anchored at Le Havre at 1000.  Anchored all day.

Nov. 29, 1944
    Underway at 0900.  Going up the Seine River.  Very interesting scenery.  All along the banks are wrecked vehicles, tanks, staff cars, ambulances, carts etc. used by fleeing Germans, and riddled by our planes.  Several villages totally destroyed.  River very dangerous, mines thruout. Every so often masts & funnels of sunken ships projecting out of the water. Still we are going at battle speed.  1300 Sighted wreckage of USS LST 6, sunk by a mine.  Several big freighters sunk, both by our planes before D-Day and by mines afterward. 1800 Arrived at Rouen docks.  Went out on liberty till 2300.  Town crowded with troops. Found a cabaret, drank Calvados.  Inflation getting bad. 200 francs to an English pound is official rate of exchange, but you can get up to 600 francs a pound. Prices sky high. Stayed sober, good thing I did as the others got wild drunk on that Calvados.  Arrived at the ship O.K.

Nov. 30, 1944--(note: Last Entry)
     Discharged cargo, and at 1100 started down the river, full speed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

"

Written by:

James Edward Cosgrove

b 12/27/21, Davenport, IA d 7/4/86, Louisville, Ky

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