WEBVTT 1 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:15.519 Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in 2 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:19.039 this edition is Frank Davida, a Coast Guard veteran of 3 00:00:19.079 --> 00:00:23.079 World War II in both the European and Pacific theaters. 4 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:26.960 Mister Davida crewed one of the boats bringing ground forces 5 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:30.399 ashore at Omaha Beach in the early morning hours of 6 00:00:30.519 --> 00:00:34.880 June sixth, nineteen forty four, better known, of course, as 7 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:38.719 D Day. When Frank Davida heard about the Japanese attack 8 00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:42.439 on Pearl Harbor in December nineteen forty one, he like 9 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:46.000 millions of other young Americans, immediately went to the nearest 10 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:49.600 recruiting station, and for him, that was in Brooklyn, New York. 11 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:55.119 I first volunteered for the Air Force as a bully, 12 00:00:55.240 --> 00:00:59.880 go you know together, and I took all that says 13 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:06.439 and I filled because of peripheral vision. So then I 14 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:09.599 joined the Navy. I passed all the tests they wanted 15 00:01:10.439 --> 00:01:13.599 and it says fine, come back in six weeks. I 16 00:01:13.640 --> 00:01:17.239 wanted to go immediately, So next door was the Coast Guard. 17 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:19.120 That's how I became a coast Guard. 18 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:21.560 When Davita's mother found out that he had joined the 19 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:24.200 Coast Guard, she was overjoyed. 20 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:26.040 And when I joined the Coast Guard, my mother was 21 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:30.879 very happy. She thought I'd be patrolling the beaches and Conia. 22 00:01:31.159 --> 00:01:33.359 Six weeks later, I was the wrong way to Europe. 23 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:36.760 Instead of being assigned to guard the US coast, he 24 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:39.519 was assigned to the crew of a troop transport ship, 25 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:41.920 the USS Samuel Chase. 26 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:45.560 My job originally I was a gunners mate. I was 27 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:50.480 in charge of four twenty millimeter anti aircraft guns on 28 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:54.959 the stern of the ship, but during invasions, I was 29 00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:56.760 on the Higgins boat going into the beach. 30 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:00.000 Due to the high demand for sailors, the Navy had 31 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:03.120 given the Coast Guard the responsibility of manning the thousands 32 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:06.719 of landing craft that would bring the troops ashore during invasions. 33 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:09.840 Frank Davida and thousands of other men who had joined 34 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:13.080 the Coast Guard expecting an easier assignment, were in for 35 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:17.039 a rude awakening. Davida deployed with his ship to England 36 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:20.960 in nineteen forty three in preparation for the impending invasion 37 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:25.080 of France. By early June of nineteen forty four, after 38 00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:28.560 months of training and maneuvers, the time for the invasion 39 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:32.680 had come thousands of transport ships and hundreds of warships 40 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:36.080 left ports on the southern coast of England and sailed 41 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:40.479 south toward the coast of France. The invasion target Normandy. 42 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:44.400 On the night of June fifth, paratroopers from the American 43 00:02:44.439 --> 00:02:47.800 eighty second and one hundred first Airborne Divisions and the 44 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:52.479 British sixth Airborne Division began the invasion, landing behind enemy 45 00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:56.080 lines in order to cut off German reinforcements from reaching 46 00:02:56.120 --> 00:03:00.960 the beaches. Early the next morning, June sixth, Frank DaVita 47 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:04.120 and the men of the fleet woke up and prepared 48 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:06.319 for the main event, the landing. 49 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:09.919 You know, we had twelve hundred troops aboard my ship 50 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:15.879 from the big Red one, the first Division, and the 51 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:19.599 day of the invasion, we made a big mistake. We 52 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:23.479 fed the troops bacon and eggs and everything you could 53 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:23.879 think of. 54 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:25.520 That was a big mistake. 55 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:30.360 If you know anything about going in battle, the Russians 56 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:33.439 used to go in battle with a heart attack and 57 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:36.879 a glass of water or something like that. We overfed 58 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:38.599 the troops. It was the worst thing they could ever 59 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:42.439 do because they all got seasick, every one of them. 60 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:45.639 After feeding the troops breakfast, it was time to head 61 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:49.120 to shore. DaVita remembers how he felt when the time 62 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:50.360 for the landing had come. 63 00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:53.639 I was scared because I knew there was going to 64 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:56.560 be a lot of casualties on the beach, and we 65 00:03:56.680 --> 00:03:59.919 ended up with two thousand casualties on my beach. 66 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:02.919 Omaha Beach, we. 67 00:04:02.759 --> 00:04:06.759 Were the worst of the the five stars. 68 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:08.840 We were the worst. Omaha Beach were the worst. 69 00:04:09.479 --> 00:04:12.680 There were five landing beaches selected by the Allied generals 70 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:15.960 for the invasion. Gold, Juno and Sword beaches in the 71 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:19.279 east were selected as the British and Canadian landing areas, 72 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:22.839 with Utah and Omaha beaches in the west selected for 73 00:04:22.920 --> 00:04:26.800 the Americans. Omaha was the key to the success of 74 00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:30.439 the invasion, as it connected the Americans at Utah with 75 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:34.720 the British and Canadians at Gold, Juno and Sword. If 76 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:37.240 Omaha could not be taken, the other beaches would be 77 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:39.800 cut off and the Germans would be able to crush 78 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:43.839 each landing. In turn. Omaha was also the most heavily 79 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:47.519 defended beach. Overlooking it were bluffs more than one hundred 80 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:51.879 feet high, the crests bristling with bunkers, machine guns, artillery 81 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:56.920 and mortars. Farther below were the beach obstacles. Frank Devita 82 00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:58.959 and the rest of the men that would be responsible 83 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:02.600 for taking Omaha Beach beach, both Army and Coastguard were 84 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:06.319 all about to be witnesses to the worst slaughter of 85 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:10.920 D Day. Davida boarded his landing craft around four am. 86 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:14.199 He and his comrades in the Coastguard would soon be 87 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:17.600 bringing the first wave of troops ashore, and they knew 88 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:21.120 full well what sort of deadly dangers lay ahead. 89 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:25.439 At four o'clock in the morning, we started dropping our 90 00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:26.279 boats in the water. 91 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:28.800 We had twenty six takings boats. 92 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:32.519 We circled the ship one time, supposed to be good luck, 93 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:38.439 and we headed towards the beaches. We were eleven miles 94 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:42.000 out because the Germans had a gun called the eighty eight, 95 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:45.720 which is the best gun in the war, and had 96 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:49.680 ranged at ten miles. So all the transports were eleven 97 00:05:49.720 --> 00:05:53.279 miles out, which was very good for them, not for us, 98 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:55.959 because it took us two hours to get to the beach. 99 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:01.680 And in the water going to the beach were mines. 100 00:06:03.319 --> 00:06:06.279 Made out of glass of plastic, and you call to 101 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:09.920 see them in the water, you know a couple of boats, 102 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:12.560 not from my ship. Well, a couple of boats hit 103 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:14.759 the mines and they got killed. 104 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:18.079 DaVita still remembers how the soldiers on his boat felt 105 00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:20.000 as they approached the enemy coast. 106 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:22.160 They didn't realize they were going to their death. 107 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:27.519 They were singing and talking and laughing, telling jokes until 108 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:28.319 they get fired. 109 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:31.920 As the landing craft approached the beach, more and more 110 00:06:31.959 --> 00:06:35.639 obstacles came into view. The Germans, under the command of 111 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:39.639 Field Marshal Irwin Rammel, had littered the beaches with obstacles 112 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:43.079 designed to sink landing craft hamper the movement of tanks 113 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:48.600 and funnel troops into prepared killing zones. DaVita vividly remembers 114 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:51.199 the moments before he dropped the ramp on his Higgins 115 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:54.959 boat and the many horrors he witnessed once he did. 116 00:06:55.160 --> 00:06:58.680 We couldn't get on the beach because there was obstacles 117 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:03.800 in the water, coursed beams with metal and it was 118 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:08.720 mine and along the beach the Germans had thirty three 119 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:16.319 machine guns and forty two's as far as one hundred 120 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:22.800 sixty rounds per minute. So my job, originally, I'm a 121 00:07:22.839 --> 00:07:26.399 gunner's mate, so I was supposed to be posting a 122 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:29.600 machine gun on the boat about three or four weeks 123 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:33.199 before the invasion, they took my gun away. 124 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:35.079 If you ask me why, I don't know. 125 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:39.639 So consequently, instead of the machine guns, they give me 126 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:41.600 the job of dropping the ramp. 127 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:43.839 You know, in the front of the boat. 128 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:46.639 The boat is made out of wood, but in the 129 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:48.759 front of the boat they have this ramp like a 130 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:51.959 garage door ramp, and it's made it two or three 131 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:58.720 inch metal, so it could be stand with stand probably 132 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:03.439 either a rifle or a machine gun. So when we 133 00:08:03.480 --> 00:08:06.680 got close enough to the beach, we we only go 134 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:08.439 about two hundred yards on the beach. 135 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:10.319 That's that's the closes we could get. 136 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:14.959 And the machine guns opened fire on us, and uh, 137 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:19.680 the bullets were bouncing off. 138 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:21.480 The ramp cause it was metal. It was up. 139 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:25.360 But I knew eventually I had to drop the ramp 140 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:28.839 and then the bulls instead of hitting the ramp, they 141 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:33.080 would come into the bull So the cocks says to me, 142 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:36.480 dropped the ramp. I never heard him because the roar 143 00:08:36.519 --> 00:08:39.919 of the cannons, two big diesel engines in the back. 144 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:41.679 Of the bar. Never heard him. 145 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:44.200 Then the second time he says to me, dropped the ramp, 146 00:08:45.159 --> 00:08:48.200 and I froze for a few seconds because I didn't 147 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:50.559 want to die. And I knew once I dropped that 148 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:54.960 ramp bus and then he said to me, He says, 149 00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:59.440 God damned defeat had dropped the eff and ramp, so 150 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:02.679 I had no choice. I dropped the rent. The machine 151 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:08.600 guns opened. That fire killed about fourteen fifteen troops that 152 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:12.679 were in the front of the boat. Now my where 153 00:09:12.679 --> 00:09:16.600 I was, there was a crank lower and and raised 154 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:17.000 the rent. 155 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:19.600 I was about three quarters the way back. 156 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:20.720 Uh. 157 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:24.000 I had soldiers in front of me. They were might pick. 158 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:26.320 They were absorbing the bullets that would come to me, 159 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:31.759 you know. But I had two stragglers. They didn't wanna die, 160 00:09:31.799 --> 00:09:34.000 so they didn't wanna get the other troops to go 161 00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:37.679 and forward. They stayed with me. They thought by staying 162 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:41.840 with me they'd be safe. Unfortunately, by staying with me, 163 00:09:42.519 --> 00:09:46.679 they would drawing fire from the health and helped me. 164 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:52.080 There was two guys. One guy was about four feet 165 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:56.320 away from me. The other guy was about two feet 166 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:01.039 away from me. The first guy got hit, ripped his 167 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:08.639 stomach open, his stomach's outside his baby. Fortunately you live. 168 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:12.080 This guy lived and the other guy that was two 169 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:15.519 feet away from me. He was a red at a kid. 170 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:20.559 The machine gun took his helmet off and part of 171 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:24.279 his brain, that part of it, and he was crying, 172 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:27.600 help me, help me, help me. I had no more feet. 173 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:31.080 I couldn't help him. So he fell at my feet. 174 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:35.159 He he fell at my feet, and he was crying, 175 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:38.080 help me, help me, help it. I had nothing in 176 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:40.960 my kit to help him, certainly. The only thing I 177 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:45.639 had was the Lord's prayer, and I started praying, how 178 00:10:45.720 --> 00:10:49.200 far the war of it? I I never finished it, 179 00:10:49.960 --> 00:10:53.000 and he slumped down. I knew, yeah, I knew he 180 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:58.480 was gonna die. And I reached down and I squeezed 181 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:01.759 his in. I want him to know that he wasn't long. 182 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:04.000 Then he died. 183 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:13.320 He died. It was just a little boy, just a 184 00:11:13.320 --> 00:11:15.840 little boy. 185 00:11:17.639 --> 00:11:23.360 So the Coxson says, pick up the ramp because we're 186 00:11:23.399 --> 00:11:27.600 getting a lot of flock from the hills and from 187 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:31.159 the machine guns on the beach. So he says to me, 188 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:36.919 raised the ramp. So I pulled the handle. The ramp 189 00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:40.840 would not go up. Pulled it a second time. The 190 00:11:40.919 --> 00:11:41.919 ramp would not go up. 191 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:48.200 So I put on orto we go up. So my job. 192 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:53.559 There was probably maybe fifteen guys still alive on that boat. 193 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:59.960 My job was to protect these guys with the ramp. 194 00:12:01.960 --> 00:12:05.799 So I I couldn't see the ramp from where I 195 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:09.080 was because all these dead bodies in front of me. 196 00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:13.200 So I had to do something I didn't wanna do. 197 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:17.360 I was calling over the dead bodies and asked 'em 198 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:20.440 my f for Mike, for them to forget this. They 199 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:24.919 were dead, and I'm saying I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So 200 00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:27.240 I climbed over the dead bodies and I started going 201 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:31.240 through rent and all of a sudden, one guy came out. 202 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:35.039 I don't know if it was a crew member or army. 203 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:40.039 I didn't care. So I had some help. So when 204 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:44.600 we got to the close enough to the beach, I 205 00:12:44.679 --> 00:12:46.440 wanted to know why the rent when you go up, 206 00:12:48.679 --> 00:12:50.120 there was two dead soldiers. 207 00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:53.759 They never got out of the boat and they were 208 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:54.320 on the ramp. 209 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:59.559 Yeah, plus the weight of the soldiers and he sold 210 00:12:59.559 --> 00:13:03.000 that night the pounds on his backpack so the ramp 211 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:08.159 would not go up. So this other guy and myself, 212 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:12.120 I pointed to his belt and we grabbed his bolt, 213 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:16.879 and by step by step by step, we pulled them 214 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:22.440 into the the two boys that were dead into the boat. 215 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:27.200 Then he says to me, RA raised the ramp. 216 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:30.559 So without the two guys, when I had to own 217 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:37.440 a pilot, it came up by itself anyhow, So you 218 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:40.759 know the Germans are very diabolical. They know how to 219 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:48.159 kill people. Besides the mines and the machine guns, the 220 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:55.080 telephone poles on top of the telephone pole was at mine. 221 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:58.440 It wasn't screwed in or nailed in. It was just 222 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:03.559 sitting there. So if you happened to tap the telephone pole, 223 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:07.440 that mine would come in your boat. We were scared 224 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:12.039 of the telephone poles. M So anyhow, the cock the 225 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:14.840 Coxing was with me. He was a little kid from 226 00:14:14.919 --> 00:14:19.320 uh Brooklyn, New York, Dermott and uh he got out 227 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:21.159 of it cause don't forget yet. He had to go 228 00:14:21.240 --> 00:14:26.399 backwards through these mines, through these telephone poles. He turned 229 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:29.759 the boat around and we started heading towards my boat. 230 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:35.879 My captain was very smart, which he each wave he 231 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:36.679 came a little. 232 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:38.639 Closer to this shore, a little closer this shore. 233 00:14:40.039 --> 00:14:42.519 So we had it for my boat white ship rather 234 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:46.360 And then we saw this white ship with a big 235 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:47.320 red course center. 236 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:49.279 It's a hospital ship. 237 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:53.879 So instead of going through our ship, we went to 238 00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:58.320 the hospital ship cause we had a lot of wounded. 239 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:00.440 Uh my board badly wounded. 240 00:15:01.639 --> 00:15:03.399 And when we got to the hospital ship, there was 241 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:08.399 a ramp on the back and two guys from the 242 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:12.039 hospital ship got busted 'em. They jumped into my boat 243 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:19.000 and they did something we couldn't do. They were peeling 244 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:23.840 the dead off to get to the wounded. I I 245 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:26.360 don't remember, except I was like an old shock at 246 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:29.919 that time. I don't remember if they got five, six, 247 00:15:30.039 --> 00:15:33.279 I don't know how many. But they got these guys 248 00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:36.360 and they put 'em in the hospital ship. At least 249 00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:39.440 said we're gonna live that, you know. They they had 250 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:43.240 the wheelchairs, and they had more feend had everything under 251 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:46.600 the hospital ship, and I I was happy that these 252 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:52.360 guys are gonna get all the care they needed. So 253 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:55.600 then these two guys jumped out of the boat. We 254 00:15:55.679 --> 00:15:58.679 pulled it away from the hospital ship and we had 255 00:15:58.679 --> 00:15:59.639 it towards my ship. 256 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:06.759 On the back of my ship, Dad dropped a sled. 257 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:11.679 A sled is like a garage door, a big garage door, 258 00:16:13.799 --> 00:16:15.919 and we would put the dead and wounded on there, 259 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:18.639 and then the crank would take him on board. Shit, 260 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:24.080 So somebody yelt through a clax at home. I want 261 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:28.320 one man from each boat to come up to be 262 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:35.000 interviewed or not interviewed, because he figured maybe we could 263 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.600 help the next wave. So I got aboard the sled 264 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:43.919 and I went up and and I was interviewed by uh, 265 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:49.799 a navy navy guy and a big army guy like 266 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:54.440 I had hands as big as a baseball man. And 267 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:57.840 he did something I like, I said, I was just shocked. 268 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:04.319 He did something. He tapped me on the shoulder. He said, 269 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:08.079 it's alright, s it's alright's son. It was like a 270 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:15.240 huk like ah. So I was interview with and then 271 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:18.880 this army guy said to me, he says, son, let 272 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:22.880 me teach you something. He said, those machine guns can 273 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:27.440 only fire for so long. Then they burn. They get hot, 274 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:31.880 and they gotta change the change the barrels. When they 275 00:17:31.960 --> 00:17:36.359 change the barrels, that's when you drop the rent. So 276 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:39.319 I said them, how much time do I have? Two 277 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:41.720 or three seconds? Changed the barrel. 278 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:44.599 So that's what I did. 279 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:50.359 So then after I was interviewed, see my boat already 280 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:53.039 I pulled away to twenty eight. So I'm waiting for 281 00:17:53.079 --> 00:17:59.680 another boat and I'm standing on the deck and nobody's 282 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:05.000 around me because I stunk the high heaven. My uniform 283 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:11.119 was covered with blood and puke. So I'm standing by myself. 284 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:16.519 And I said to myself, the way I wanna go 285 00:18:16.599 --> 00:18:21.799 back into the belly of the beast. If they said machine, 286 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:26.720 I didn't wanna die. So I thought about it for 287 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:30.640 a while, and I said to myself, if I don't go, 288 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:36.480 they're gonna send a replacement. Suppose the replacement gets killed. 289 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:40.480 How could I live with myself? So I made up 290 00:18:40.519 --> 00:18:44.720 my mind. I'm going back, and I went back fourteen 291 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:52.160 more times. I made fifteen chips all together. The Germans 292 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:55.240 on the beach. The Germans owned the beach, not us, 293 00:18:56.440 --> 00:18:59.640 and they were slowing the troops left and right from 294 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:05.119 the hill, from the from the ground, these these pool guys. 295 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:07.400 He had no chance. You know. 296 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:12.079 It was flat like a pull table, no place to die. 297 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:18.319 You can't think in sand, and they were gonna be killed. 298 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:24.559 So fist. So, like I said, I was a little 299 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:25.200 bit of a shock. 300 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:29.839 Thanks to coastguardsmen like Frank Davida, thousands of American troops 301 00:19:29.880 --> 00:19:33.759 made it ashore on Omaha Beach. However, those who survived 302 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:36.799 the initial torrent of bullets and advanced across the beach, 303 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:39.960 were still unable to scale the bluffs beyond the beach. 304 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:43.559 Thousands of men from the first and twenty ninth Infantry 305 00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:46.720 Divisions were pinned to the ground behind a small sand 306 00:19:46.759 --> 00:19:50.960 embankment called the Shingle. If the German guns atop the 307 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:53.960 ridge could not be silenced, none of the men taking 308 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:58.079 cover behind the shingle would make it off Omaha Beach alive. 309 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:02.519 Davida and then man on board the ships offshore looked 310 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:06.519 on at the carnage, unable to help, until one brave 311 00:20:06.599 --> 00:20:08.799 skipper of a destroyer hatched a plan. 312 00:20:09.480 --> 00:20:12.839 There was five destoyers all along, but the lead Desjoyer 313 00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:18.039 was the Frankfurt, and then one or two other joys. 314 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:22.400 The Sadly was there in the mcgook. So the three 315 00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:25.480 of them came in at the same time. When you 316 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:31.000 attack an enemy, you attacked his nose, because there's the 317 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:37.079 smallest silhouette. He did that, and he came so close 318 00:20:37.160 --> 00:20:40.519 to shore. You know, our boats can go on the beach, 319 00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:43.480 a Destoyer has a keel. 320 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:45.759 They can't get too close. 321 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:50.319 He was insand so then he did something I've never 322 00:20:50.359 --> 00:20:54.880 seen done before. This guy was willing to sacrifice his 323 00:20:55.039 --> 00:21:00.119 life and his boat and all his men because he 324 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:03.480 wanted to hun help these guys on the beach. So 325 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:07.079 he took his boat that was facing this way and 326 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:12.720 he turned his sideways, exposing his beam to the eighty eights. 327 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:20.279 The reason he did that destroy has four five inch guns. 328 00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:28.559 He wanted to fire these five inch guns at one time. Now, 329 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:30.720 the guys up on the hill that were facing us 330 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:35.799 up and machine guns eighty eights up there, we couldn't 331 00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:39.279 seem they were the grass foliage and stuff like that. 332 00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:44.519 So we he put around of his five inch guns, 333 00:21:45.319 --> 00:21:48.799 four at a time, and he took. 334 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:51.359 Out those guys on the on on. 335 00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:56.799 The slope, and right then there the bouts started changing. 336 00:21:57.319 --> 00:22:01.960 One by one. The German guns began to all silent. However, 337 00:22:02.039 --> 00:22:05.880 the battle for Omaha Beach was not yet one. Small 338 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:09.240 groups of American troops began scaling the bluffs, all the 339 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:12.839 while dodging a torrent of German machine gun and rifle fire. 340 00:22:13.880 --> 00:22:18.240 After hours of brutal combat, the German beach defenses gradually 341 00:22:18.279 --> 00:22:21.799 fell to the American forces. As the battle on shore 342 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:24.440 began to move away from the beach, da Vida and 343 00:22:24.519 --> 00:22:27.720 the coastguardsmen had even more difficult work to do. 344 00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:32.440 By the fifth wave, we ran out of troops, so 345 00:22:32.519 --> 00:22:36.240 we started taking the twenty ninth division, because the twenty 346 00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:40.920 ninth division was on Utah, and Utah at that time 347 00:22:41.480 --> 00:22:45.559 was clean, so they swung over to help the first division. 348 00:22:46.519 --> 00:22:50.039 That's the first five we ran out of troops and 349 00:22:50.440 --> 00:22:53.720 we had to do something else. Instead of going into 350 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:57.279 the beach, we started to take the dead and the 351 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:01.160 wounded off the beach. We really get in the water. 352 00:23:01.880 --> 00:23:04.720 I weighed one hundred and twenty five pounds. I couldn't 353 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:07.519 have fun of these guys up. So two or three 354 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:10.079 of us we got and we put them in the 355 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:14.319 boat and we start going back to my ship. No, 356 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:17.599 I don't know how many wounded we took to my ship, 357 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:21.480 but I do know that we took three hundred and 358 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:22.599 eight dead bodies. 359 00:23:23.799 --> 00:23:24.880 Why do I know that. 360 00:23:26.519 --> 00:23:29.039 Because I had a good friend of mine, John Ohler, 361 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.039 who was a quartermaster, and his job was to put 362 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:39.240 the bodies in the body bigs, and he dispensed three 363 00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:41.319 hundred eight dead body bigs. 364 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:44.319 The battle for Omaha Beach ultimately claimed the lives of 365 00:23:44.359 --> 00:23:48.079 more than twenty four hundred American servicemen, but by the 366 00:23:48.200 --> 00:23:51.359 end of the day, more than thirty four thousand troops 367 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:55.279 had landed on the beach and advanced inland. Securing the 368 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:58.400 Omaha Beach had proved vital to the ultimate success of 369 00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:01.559 D Day. And it was like Frank Davida who brought 370 00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:06.079 the soldiers ashore. After the landings were complete, DaVita and 371 00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:07.839 his boat returned to their ship. 372 00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:10.599 They brought my boat up. I don't remember what boat 373 00:24:10.599 --> 00:24:13.480 it was, cause the twenty eight was gone. They brought 374 00:24:13.559 --> 00:24:16.640 my boat up and I looked at that boat. It 375 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:21.880 looked like Swiss chefs the machines. I destinated it, and 376 00:24:21.880 --> 00:24:26.720 I'm saying to myself, how do anybody live off that boat? 377 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:30.200 Right? So I got aboard ship. 378 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:36.680 Aboard the ship, yeah, and I'm waiting. 379 00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:38.160 I'm waiting. I'm waiting. 380 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:45.359 And the captain was so good for the name was 381 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:51.400 Captain Fish. He understood what we had gone through. So 382 00:24:52.839 --> 00:24:58.039 after we took these two hundred date bodies and the wounded, 383 00:24:58.039 --> 00:25:02.359 I don't know how many wounded we were. When I'm 384 00:25:02.359 --> 00:25:07.519 aboard the ship and we're going towards Southampton, I'm all 385 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:14.359 by myself. They announced it was a loud speaker, the cheese, 386 00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:17.839 sandwiches and coffee for the crews that went into the beach. 387 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:22.200 So everybody went down to the medical. I didn't wanna go. 388 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:28.319 First of all, I stunk to having I haven't and 389 00:25:31.960 --> 00:25:34.759 I didn't want him to see my crer. I wanted 390 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:38.039 to see the crier. So I walked back to my 391 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:44.240 twenty millimeter guns and I sat down, and I'm reflecting, 392 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:50.240 and I said to myself, what the hell just happened? 393 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:57.000 And how come I'm still alive? How come I'm still alife? 394 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:02.400 So he was a web tech. Is probably ten eleven o'clock. 395 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:06.240 I forget the time, and I all alone, and I 396 00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:09.559 looked around to see if any of my mates are 397 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:09.920 with me. 398 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:12.119 Nobody was there. 399 00:26:13.240 --> 00:26:17.480 But when I turned around, all the dead bodies, the 400 00:26:17.559 --> 00:26:21.519 two hundred eight bet dead bodies like a quarter would. 401 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:29.119