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CAL 41 FPO California (Pacific) For Cornelius Ryan Book about D-Day * Co of CARMICK file suppo on OMAHA Excellent GREEN
THOUSANDS OF MEN, ON LAND AND SEA AND IN THE AIR, PARTICIPATED IN THE INVASION OF NORMANDY BETWEEN MIDNIGHT JUNE 5, 1944 AND MIDNIGHT JUNE 6, 1944. IP YOU WERE ONE OF THEM, PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
What is your full name? Captain Robert O. Beer, 71562, U.S.N.
What was your unit and division? Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Carmick (DD 493)
Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time? Omaha beach, early hour 6 June
What was your rank on June 6, 1944? Commander, U.S.N.
What was your age on June 6, 1944? 34
Were you married at that time?
What is your wife's name?
Did you have any children at that time?
What do you do now? Captain, U.S. Navy, Commander Destroyer Squadron 25 based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? I guessed when we left Boston early in April,1944. I was sure when the plans for the landing came on board a few weeks before D-day.
What was the trip like during the crossing of the Channel? Do you remember, for example, any conversations you had or how you passed the time?
What were the rumors on board the boat, ship or plane in which you made the crossing? (Some people remember scuttlebut to the effect that the Germans had poured gasoline on the water and planned to set it afire when the troops came in).
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Your name CAPT. R. O. BEER, USN
Did you by any chanoe keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No.
Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? No.
Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties?
Were you wounded? No.
Do you remember what it was like--that is, do you remember whether you felt any pain or were you so surprised that you felt nothing?
Do you remember seeing- or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time?
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else?
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Your name CAPT. R. O. BEER, USN
In times of great crisis, people generally show either great ingenuity or self-reliance; others do incredibly stupid things• Do you remember any examples of either?
Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944? Closing the beach, escorting the minesweepers.
Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944? Lying off the beach awaiting orders.
Do you know of anybody else who landed within those 24 hours (midnight June 5 to midnight June 6) as infantry, glider or airborne troops, or who took part in the air and sea operations, whom we should write to?
PLEASE LET US HAVE THIS QUESTIONNAIRE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, SO THAT V7E CAN INCLUDE YOUR EXPERIENCES IN THE BOOK. IE HOPE THAT YOU WILL CONTINUE YOUR STORY ON SEPARATE SHEETS IF WE HAVE SOT LEFT SUFFICIENT ROOM* FULL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT WILL BE GIVEN IN A CHAPTER CALLED "WHERE THEY ARE NOW; YOUR NAME AND VOCATION OR OCCUPATION WILL BE LISTED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.
Cornelius Ryan Frances Ward
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CAPT. R. O. BEER, USN
There are several experiences listed herein, some of which fit the paragraphs in your questionaire, otters do not, but they are listed anyway.
I was Commanding Officer of U.S.S. CARMICK (DD 493), a ship of Destroyer Squadron 18, which squadron provided the close-in fire support on the Omaha beaches on 6 June, 1944. These following stories are strictly from memory, my records are in stowage and inaccessible to me at this time.
CARMICK was one of the three U.S. destroyers that escorted the British minesweepers as they swept across the English channel and the sea areas off the Omaha Beaches. The three destroyers, under the over-all command of Captain William Marshall, U.S.N. (now Rear Admiral, U.S.N.), Commander Destroyer Division 37, left the British coast late in the afternoon of 5 June and headed toward France behind (in order to be in swept waters) these little minesweepers. Each sweeper was flying a tremendous British Ensign as a battle flag at the fore truck. Our destroyers could not fly an American flag at the fore truck because a flag at that location would have fouled our radar antennas. It was most inspiring to see all the small craft moving boldly against Hitler's Festung Europa as the spearhead of the armada following.
It was a typically rough gloomy channel crossing, overcast and rather hazy.
Conversations were generally subdued, and the men seemed sure of themselves and the ship ’s capabilities, but not of what to expect from the enemy. We, on the bridge, wondered aloud - Did the Germans know we were coming? Were there really mines in the mine fields we were passing through? Would Allied aircraft cover