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2.
of their equipment on board ship, and they also
received their rations of sea sick tablets from their
officers. Several of the soliders were quite seasick and
it was evident that they would be more seasick as they
travelled the rough seas to the beach which was approximately
4 miles away. It should be stated that the soliders were
calm and deliberate, there was no outward sign of fear
but I believe and know that all of us were afraid of
death [illegible] to some degree. As the first and second assualt
landing craft pulled away from the ship we shouted
encouragement and waved them goodbye. We saw and
heard the actual bombardment of the German positions
by the RAF and USAAF and I believe it gave (great)
tremendous encouragement to everyone concerned.
As the loading of the remaining (LCA's) continued,
we heard the news over the loudspeaker to the effect
that the Americans were attempting to land ashore at
Cherbourg and were suffering a great number of casualities
and meeting stiff opposition. In the meantime we were
located about 1/2 mile behind HMS Nelson and several
other great British (battlewagons) battleships which together
with other ships were shelling the German beach head.
The noise from the shelling was deafening and there
were many return volleys from the German positions
that hit and sank many ships but we were not hit.
During this exchange of fire, the loading of the LCA's
continued, the German air force was practically non-
existent but there were still dangers such as mines,
submarine and E boats to be on the lookout. (I recall
that) I recall by judging by the column of
water and debris of what had remained of ships that
had been hit by the shore batteries, that our ship would
sink rapidly if it had been hit. As I stood beside my