THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
WASHINGTON


The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the

PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION

to the

UNITED STATES LCT 540

For service as set forth in the following:

CITATION:


For outstanding performance and distinguished service in combat during the assault on the Coast of Normandy, France, launched June 6, 1944. Rocked by the blasts of German 88-mm. Cannon during the approach, her gun turrets wrecked, fires blazing aboard, her Officer-In-Charge killed and eight of her men casualties, the U.S. LCT 540 hit the beach on schedule under the heaviest concentration of enemy fire. In gallant response to the urgency of her task, she operated twenty-four hours a day until June 9, beaching her cargo while still under fire and returning repeatedly to place ashore the equipment, supplies and troops vital to the success and the very life of our assault forces. Crippled but undaunted, the LCT pursued her course unwaveringly despite German-emplaced underwater obstacles and terrific gunfire opposition, supplementing the valor and fortitude of her inexperienced officer and her men by her own steadfastness in the fulfillment of a perilous mission.”




For the President
James Forrestal
Secretary of the Navy

PREPARING FOR THE INVASION
Nye Moses was a reserve officer who had graduated from University of Southern California in April of 1943. After graduation he received military training at Northwestern University and was commissioned as an Ensign in August of 1943. He was transferred to Falmouth late in 1943 to assume command of the LCT-540.

Ensign Nye Moses welcomed most of the crew of the LCT-540 that January morning, and many of the men had trained together in Maryland. Ensign Moses laid some ground rules for the crew, and made it clear that he expected every man to do his duty. Period. Each man had been trained for a specific job on the LCT and the size of the crew meant that overall success of the LCT depended on every man performing that duty to the best of his abilities. The crew of the 540 included:

Ensign Nye Moses, Jr. was the officer in charge. Thaddeus E. Jablonowski was the throttle man, and Elmer H. Mueller the helmsman. Working together they got the craft where it had to be. Their duty station was the pilothouse. Irwin E Deeds was quartermaster and also was the 540s radio operator. Lou Mahlman, my dad was a signalman / communications back-up who sometimes kept the ship log. He also was responsible for helping the Skipper identify the beach characteristcs of Easy Red on Omaha. He had a complete set of reconnaissance photographs of 30 miles of the French coastline taken in February of 1944 by a submarine from about 1 mile off-shore. Jerry Gerson Binder was the ship’s cook, who doubled as its doctor and when necessary its funeral director as well. The two gunners were Sherwood Lee Harris and Robert E. Kearney. George W. Neely was a petty officer in charge of the engine room and Jack Willis was the anchor wench operator. Thomas W. McKay, also from the Philly area, was the petty officer in charge of the ramp detail, and the other seaman serving on the 540 included Benjamin F. Shewbrooks, Lawrence Libby, Ursinus "Fats" Lieberman of Stowe PA, Carl Ireland, Willard Newton Carver, Wilmer Thomas Burrows and Raymond R. Mahoney.

Over the next few months the men fell into a routine. They got comfortable with each other, and learned to live with each other. After hours usually meant pinochle in the galley. There was always a game going.

Other than participating in the invasion of Europe, I don’t think the men knew what their specific assignment was to be, or that the 540 would be one in one of the first waves. Throughout January and February, the crew took the 540 through its paces. They practiced loading and unloading. They practiced beaching and retracting. They moved troops throughout the southwest England area. As March began, the preparation moved from craft skills to flotilla skills. The 540 was to participate in four mock invasions to practice working together with the other 35 LCTs in Flotilla 19, which, unbeknownst to any of the crew had already been chosen to play a crucial role in the invasion. The first of these practice runs began on Tuesday, March 7th when at 1830 hours the 540 loaded 17 vehicles and 17 drivers and an Army officer to evaluate the overall effort. At 1925 the 540 arrived at Buoy #6, in the middle of the channel and waited for further orders. And waited. And waited. At 1430 hours on Thursday afternoon, the CO left for a meeting on the USS Chase with the commanders of all of the other LCTs in Flotilla 19 and returned four hours later. They reviewed the game plan for the following day with the crew. It seemed that the navy even had the guys practicing to wait. Finally at 1333 hours on Friday they got underway. Within 24 minutes they had passed into the English Channel. And they continued to travel throughout the night in convoy. On Saturday at 1240 the next day the 540 hit the beach and dropped her ramp. The 17 vehicles pulled onto the beach, and after raising the ramp, she pulled off of the beach, fully unloaded at 12:43. Unloaded in three minutes! The guys were impressive on their first attempt! They tied to LST-335 at 1415, and after loading 16 vehicles, left for the beach 14 minutes later. The 540 hit the beach with its second load at 1442 and pulled off unloaded in 9 minutes. Three times longer than the first load. The Skipper gave the guys hell and told them he expected better. On the third practice run of the day, the crew was able to bring their unloading time back down to 4 minutes, but at a price. I suspect the practice runs were tough on the ship because at the end of the day, the 540 had blown her starboard engine. A new engine was installed by the following Thursday, just in time to participate in the 2nd mock invasion.

A Log entry for that day reads “18:15 hours Moved to Hard and took on army”. They got underway first thing the next morning, and their three mock landings on Friday and Saturday saw the 540 cut their unloading time to an average of 3 minutes, but this time they blew their generator. During the 3 days it took to replace the generator, the Skipper had the men paint the craft.

The third mock invasion began on Wednesday, March 29th when the LCT loaded 15 army vehicles at 0900. They got underway 27 hours later at 1220 on Thursday. By 1400 hours the 540 had taken position in the 3rd port column heading to Torbay. After arriving there at 1740 hours, the crew and army folks onboard the 540 waited for 36 hours before leaving for the transport area at 0640 hours on Saturday morning. After two landings, the 540 was tied to LST 284 at 1830 hours loading for the third time when the LST slacked a line which got caught in the 540’s starboard screw, making steering very difficult. The 540 was ordered to port for repairs. The LCT 540 had now participated in three mock invasions, and the craft had not fared well, having a blown engine, a blown generator, an inoperable screw. The skipper called the men together and continued to harp at keeping focused. While the slack line was not 540’s fault, the problem could have been avoided.

On Wednesday in the first week in April, the 540 tested the weapons system. Calling it a weapons system sounds much better that it really was. The 540 had two 20 mm machine guns. They were they for defensive purposes only... with a top speed of seven knots an LCT did not readily come to mind when thinking about warships. My dad’s duty station during “beaching” was as a loader on the port side machine gun.

The machine guns were there to provide defense against enemy aircraft. They were located one on each side of the ship at mid-ship. Each was located in a circular tub made of quarter inch steel and to about 3 feet high. The port side gun was located on top of the enlisted men's quarters about 10 feet above the tank deck. The starboard gun was located on top of the officer's quarters. Each machine gun was located on a swivel stand in the center of the tub about 4 feet high which allowed the gunner 360° firing range. Two sheets of steel plate, measuring 18” by 24” one on each side of the gun provided a small shield for each crew. Each machine gun was fed by a 100 round magazine, and the loaders job was to replace an empty magazine with a full one as quickly as possible. Dad would often joke about being a six-foot guy in a three-foot tub while most of the crew was safely behind steel plate.

The 540 went out into the Channel to practice fire the 22mm machine guns on board. Sherwood Lee Harris, a good old boy from Oriental North Carolina was the hotshot gunner and Larry Libby was the loader on the starboard gun. They fired three successive magazines not only to practice firing, but reloading as well under live ammo conditions. Then the port crew consisting of my dad as loader and Bob Kearney as the gunner fired three magazines. The 2 gun crews had a competition to see who could fire the three magazines the quickest with the losing loader being the center of attention at the “man overboard” drills to be held after the test firing. Harris and my dad took 4 ½ minutes. 20 minutes after securing the 2 guns, dad was thrown into the cold channel waters by the winning gun crew and the man overboard drill began. When the guns were secured the crew held yet another fire drill.

A few weeks later in mid-April, the 540 was ordered to transport 6 M-4 tanks from one section of the harbor to another. The skipper called the guys together to get them focused on the job at hand. This would be the first time they transported six tanks and loading them into proper position as quickly as possible would be a challenge. The crew was able to load them onto the craft in 10 minutes and unload them in 6 minutes, and while they unloaded in 6, the men thought they could have done better. On April 22nd the Skipper, Carl Ireland, Wilmer Burrows and Willard Carver, the ship’s fire crew left to attend fire-fighting school, returning late that afternoon. The skipper had told the three seamen that he wanted them to present all that was covered in the firefighting school with the rest of the crew the following day, which they did. Because of that impromptu firefighting class for the crew, two crew members; Mueller and Harris would go on to earn a Silver Star 47 days later by using the skills covered on that Friday afternoon in Dartmouth.

The fourth mock invasion turned the training focus from Flotilla to Invasion Force and would be the biggest by far. Allied commanders had planned Operation Tiger as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion with 30,000 soldiers of the first infantry division participating. The training exercise was to be held on April 27th at a place called Slapton Sands, a local resort beach which had many of the characteristics of Utah Beach including the cliffs which lay behind an expansive beach. A year earlier in 1943, local residents had been evacuated from Slapton Sands area so that the Allies could use it for amphibious invasion practice. Landing craft such as my dad's LCT were to deliver their initial load of men and equipment to the beach and then return to waiting LST to transport additional men, vehicles and equipment from the larger LST's offshore onto Slapton Sands. I don't know how many vehicles and men the 540 to go on in preparation for the Slapton Sands invasion but the logbook had a curiously short entry on April 24th “1715 hrs. Took on the Army”. In typical military fashion shortly after loading the men, the LCT went to the staging area and waited almost 2 full days until the afternoon of the 26th before getting the word to head out to sea to join the convoy heading to Slapton Sands. The 540 slammed onto the beach 1320 hours and pulled off the beach fully unloaded six minutes later. The rest of the exercise was uneventful to the 540 and as they headed back they continued to experience some engine problems and requested and received permission to head to Dartmouth, to have the engines repaired.

However throughout the day the Germans had been listening to the radio chatter around the Dartmouth area and he dispatched 9 E-Boats from the port of Cherbourg to investigate the activity near Dartmouth at Lyme Bay. E-boats are the German equivalents of our PT boats but on a bigger scale. Each E-Boat had a complement of up to 30 sailors, and each carried 4 torpedoes and six mines. E-Boats had a range of 800 nautical miles at 30 knots, and if pressed could hit its top speed of almost 44 knots. At 2 AM on April 28 just after the moon went down visibility was fair and the sea was calm. The German E-Boats found the convoy of six LSTs returning back from the training exercise as they sailed into Start Bay, the westernmost corner of Lyme Bay.

The Germans were effective. At 0207 hrs LST 507 was struck by three torpedoes and the explosion lit the night sky. She went down with 434 servicemen. At 0217 hours LST 531 was hit by to torpedoes and sank in six minutes leaving very little time to launch lifeboats, and taking over 300 servicemen to a watery grave. In all the attack at Slapton Sands resulted in 749 deaths among US servicemen almost four times more than the 197 men killed on Utah Beach on D-Day.

LST 289 was badly damaged in the stern and was able to limp back into port. There were 10 high-ranking allied officers on board the sunken LSTs who had participated in planning for D-Day at the highest levels and who had on their possession the final plans for the actual invasion of Utah Beach. When they were lost with the crews of the LSTs Gen. Eisenhower ordered the recovery of all bodies. The Allies had to make sure that those plans had not fallen into the hands of the enemy and compromised the element of surprise. Military commanders were justifiably concerned about the loss of personnel as well as the loss three LSTs. The loss of the three ships left allied command with no replacement LSTs, which were a critical component of the invasion plans. Any further loss of amphibious ships could doom the invasion. Allied commanders were also worried about the possibility that the missing American sailors have actually been taken prisoner by the Germans who might force them be a reveal secrets about the upcoming invasion. The Allies put full effort into accounting for these missing officers. All 10 had drowned and amazingly all 10 were recovered. As in most things in life there was an official investigation which identified to contributing factors. The convoy had been assigned to escort vehicles a British Corvette, a destroyer from the World War I era, had been damaged in a collision earlier in the day and put into port for repairs. The assigned replacement vessel came to the scene much too late. It's position as a lead craft in the convoy might well have a avoided this catastrophy since the German boats were waiting as the convoy approached. Another contributing factor was a typographical error which put LSTs and their escort vehicles on different radio frequencies. When a British ship spotted German torpedo boats soon after midnight that information was immediately sent to all British ships including the one escort vessel at the rear of the convoy. The American LSTs in the convoy never received work about the German presence, and consequently took no evasive action.

The last mock invasion happened the first week of May. On Monday, May 1st the 540 loaded 12 vehicles, 2 trailers 51 men, and at 1100 hours tied in anticipation of the launch order. Shortly after noon the next day a weather delay was announced. At 12:20 on Wednesday, the 540 got the word to get underway, passing into the English Channel at 12:40. After traveling all night in convoy, they arrived at the transport area at 0600, passed the control vessel at 0745 and hit the beach at 08:26. They took 23 minutes to unload their first load, and skipper gave them hell for taking so long reminding you guys are not going to have any extra time on the beach with German shooting at them. After they reporteded to LST 375 to take on their next load of five trucks, two trailers, and a bus with about 40 personnel they hit the beach and left unloaded in only 3 minutes. It was a great way to end what would become their last practice invasion. The next time LCT 540 would beach would be in Normandy at Omaha Beach.

A few weeks later on the 23rd Ensign Moses was called to a meeting of craft commanders from flotilla 19 where he learned a terrible explosion on May 21st at the West Lock Munitions Facility in Pearl Harbor. A number of LST's and LCT's, loaded with ammunition, and spaced very close together were rocked when LST 353 suddenly exploded. This initial explosion set off a chain reaction which ultimately destroyed LST 43, LST 69, LST 179, LST 480 as well as LST 353. Also destroyed were LCT 961, LCT 963, anD LCT 983. 163 seamen lost their lives in the incident as well. The commanders were advised to take every step to maintain safety around their craft. Many of these LCT would have trucks full of ammunition stored on them in the success of the upcoming invasion could not afford any stupid mistakes. Many of the LCT at Dartmouth would be loaded with explosives in the dayS before the invasion and the top brass wanted to make sure that their ship commanders took every precaution against fire hazard.

The navy brass had also decided that because of the extremely hazardous conditions that were expected during the invasion and to mitigate the risk of casualties, each LCT would be assigned an additional officer and up to 4 additional seamen.

Shortly after this, Ensign Bill Wilhoit, a recent graduate of Georgia Tech and its Naval ROTC program reported for duty as Executive Officer on the LCT-540. Bill joined the crew which had been working together for four months and his task was to learn everything he could as fast as possible. A friend and classmate of his, Scott Kelso was assigned a similar role as a Relief Officer for LCT-538, and be part of the same wave going into Omaha.

The days leading up to the invasion dragged on. The LCTs of Flotilla 11 were tied to T-6, and the crew tried to keep busy prepping the vessel. The only break in the boredom of routine maintenance was the daily General Quarters drill held every day for the last two weeks of May. Log entries showed very little activity during this period. Just waiting. The General Quarters drill was not held on the last Sunday in May, but they did have 3 air raid drills at 1:30 AM, 6:10 AM and again at 7:40 PM. A couple of hours after the General Quarters drill on Monday; a fire alarm was sounded… Rhino Ferry 13 had caught fire not far away. The 540 immediately proceeded to assist in extinguishing the blaze which was under control in about 20 minutes. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday more boredom, more routine work and General Quarters at 1100 hours. Everybody was getting antsy.

D-Day
At 2100 hours on Thursday evening, June 1st the 540 got the order to proceed to R-3 Hard to load the vessel. Jablonowski on the Throttle, and Mueller steering the craft got the 540 to the dock quickly. The fog thinned and the crew could see the tremendous amount of activity all over the wharf. The LCT had been through this routine a few times now, but the crew felt that this was more than another dress rehearsal. From the sailors on the pier to the grim faces of the soldiers, waiting to load, the crew immediately realized this was different. They all knew this was it. As soon as he 540 tied to the wharf at 2350 hours a radio tech came aboard and sealed the radio. It was official. This WAS the invasion.

The crew stood watching the soldiers come aboard. They learned that these men were combat veterans, members of the 5th Engineer Special Brigade (ESB) of the Big Red One; men who had been part of the invasion of Sicily who had seen combat many times before in Italy. These guys had developed one hell of a “skill set”. Part “Demolition Specialist” Part “Combat Infantryman”, Part “Wildman”.

In slightly less than 2 hours, the 540 loaded 14 vehicles, and 57 men of the Big Red One, and these guys from Company B, 37th Engineers, and 5th ESB would be in the early action. 25% of all the troops which landed on Omaha Beach would be engineers, and these guys were in the front of the line. The 3 half-tracks on board were huge vehicles measuring 20’ by 7’ wide, almost the same size as the enlisted quarters where 12 guys slept. Dad and the crew joked with the soldiers about that. Critical parts had been waterproofed,, and the jeeps had been altered to travel under water with 6 feet long snorkel tubes over their carburetors.

The 540 pulled out from the yard at 0135 hours on Friday, June 2nd to get water, and then moved alongside the LCT-542 to get additional fuel. At 1930 hours they brought a food supply aboard, and they were now fully supplied. Their cargo of men and machine was loaded, and the 540 was “good to go”. Like all their practice runs, they tied to await the launch orders. Next to LCT-624 on T-6 . They sat all day on Saturday awaiting order that never came. No General Quarters. No fire drill. No routine work. Nothing. Just waiting!

That evening, Ensign Nye Moses, Skipper, called the crew together for a briefing. He knew they were ready and he told them so. He outlined to us just what they should expect to encounter in the grim, tough battle ahead of them. They had practiced, but now the Germans would throw everything they could at them. The landing will be deadly. Allied command thought there was a possibility of the Germans using poisonous gas, so the gun crews were told to wear the gas permeable outerwear which has been issued to them. They were hot and bulky but did offer some measure of protection. Allied Command expected a heavy German air attack so skipper told the gun crews to be prepared for a busy day. The picture he painted was no rosy one. It sounded plenty tough and there were lumps in the throats of each of the crew as they listened to skipper. He told the crew of the mighty allied forces and of the gigantic armada, of which we were a part, and it was a source of real encouragement to us.

The soldiers had been provided no comforts for sleeping and it was truly a sight to see them sprawled all over the ship, wherever they could find a space in which to lie down. They slept under trailers, on top of jeeps, and in the half-tracks. The manner in which they resigned themselves to their situation, rolled up their blankets to make a pillow and laid down on the tank deck was typically “G.I.”.

Omaha Beach would present a formidable challenge to these brave young guys. The beach is about four miles wide. With a 24’ tide, there is 150 yards of exposed beach from the low water line to high water mark. The rear of the beach is made up of steep hills ranging from 300 to 500 feet high, and accessed by four unpaved exits from the beach leading to villages located on a road running parallel to the beach.

The Germans had counted on stopping an invasion on the beaches. Extensive obstacles placed in the tidal-area of the beach had been designed to stop amphibious craft from landing. Many were connected to others so that triggering one could set off many. The beach itself was mined extensively. The Germans had established a well-thought out plan for the placement of machine-guns, mortars and mines, and as my dad would experience, 88mm canons whose initial development was as an anti-aircraft defensive weapon, proved very effective as an anti-tank or anti-landing craft weapon . 88mm cannons, placed at either end of Omaha Beach with a panoramic view of the beach, helped to strengthen the German plan to kill as many invaders as possible before or after landing. 50mm and 75mm guns were positioned along the beach every 1,000 yards.

The 540’s job was to deliver the folks on board from the 5th ESB to Easy Red at Omaha Beach. These were the guys who would secure the exit from the beach leading to St. Laurent and start to clear the obstacles, so the following waves could come in safely. There were about 40 guys who seemed to be in the same engineer group with 2 officers and about 38 army and navy enlisted men. They loaded a couple of half-tracks and two trucks filled with 1,000 pounds or more of explosives, demolition accessories, mine detectors, mine gap markers. Each of the enlisted guys seemed to be carrying over 70 pounds of equipment, including what looked to be about 40 pounds of explosives.

H-hour was established as 0630, and the 540 was due at the beach at H-hour +60. 0730 hours. The order of the allied invasion landing at Easy Red Sector of Omaha beach on the morning of June 6 was as follows:

At, 0620, with the tide just starting to rise from its low point, a wave of Sherman Tanks DD were launched 10,000 yards from the beach. This was a disastrous decision since 27 of 29 tanks of the 741st Tank Battalion were lost. Additional losses were avoided when the radio crews from some of the sinking tanks were able to warn following units not to launch so far out. In fact after this initial disastrous attempt LCT's brought all tanks onto the beach.
H-hour: 4 LCT's carrying tank-dozers from Company A 741st tank battalion with orders to proceed against obstacles as directed by the Army combat demolition unit officers
H-hour +1 minute 12 LCVPs carrying six naval combat demolition units were to land on Omaha Beach each charged with clearing a gap 50 yards wide through the band of obstacles and markets so that subsequent waves of soldiers knew where to land.
H-hour +3 minutes 6 LCM's carrying the engineer special task force.
H-hour +8 minutes 3 LCM’s carrying support teams of the engineer special task force
H-hour +25 minutes 4 LCM’s carrying support teams of the engineer special task force
H-hour +30 minutes 13 LCVPS carrying company G 16th infantry
H-hour +40 minutes 6 LCVPs and 1 LCM carrying Company H 16th infantry.
H-hour +50 minutes 8 LCVPs and 1 LCM carrying Co A 81st Chemical Mortar Bn
H-hour +60 minutes 5 LCT's carrying 5th Detachment ESB Together with four other LCTs, the 538, 539, 541, and the 542 formed “Wave 8” onto Omaha Beach. These 5 LCTs were to “go in”, hitting the beach together at 0730.
The orders came at 0324 hours on Sunday morning. Proceed to the transport area. The LCT 540 pulled out a harbor and into the channel . Three hours later, at 0634 hours the 540 got word that the invasion was postponed and they were ordered to return to T-6. Which they did, tying back up at 0930 hours. The men again sat and waited. It was the following morning, after many anxious and tense hours of uncertainty and wearisome waiting that they again got the order to “shove off” for the big offensive.

At 0300 on Monday, June 5th the yard erupted into a cacophony of diesel engines! 150 LCTs each with three diesel engines all roared to life simultaneously. It was deafening! It was exhilarating! The soldiers spread over the tank deck jumped awake. This was it. The soldiers were ready to go.

The trip to Normandy would be a 20 hour trip although the weather was considerably better than the previous evening. One by one the LCT's pulled away from the dock and formed a line out of the north entrance to Portland Harbor. They preceded in column on a course at 095° at 0800 changed course 109°. At 1230 hours crew sited the Isle of Wight on the port side about the 300 yards. Just after they passed a spar buoy 2025 hours the craft changed course to 210° and was now heading straight to Normandy. In six hours the 540 would arrive at the final staging area.

The size of the allied effort was breath-taking. The sea was full of craft, mostly landing craft, from horizon to horizon, and overhead hundreds bombers were on their way to France. The 540 reached the rendezvous at about 0440, and the wave of landeing craft left the transport area for the beach at 0500. At about that time, the flashes from battleship, destroyers and cruisers lit the sky behind up as they fired on German positions. Thousands of white hot shells were clearly visible overhead, fired in pairs of shells from twin gun turrets of the US Navy. As the 540 got further away from the warships, their flashed looked more like lightening in the distant sky, but their shells were constant. At 0633 the sixteen assault gapping teams landed on OMAHA, and their support craft followed them over the next five minutes. The demolition teams, with the help of the tank-dozers, had just under half an hour to open gaps in the exposed obstacle belts before the main body of the infantry hit the beaches. The initial work went very slowly. While the ordeal of the gapping teams was still in progress, a second phase of engineer operations on Easy Red at Omaha was scheduled to begin with the arrival of the first elements of the 5th Engineer Special Brigade on the 5 LCTs including the 540.

At about two in a half miles from the beach the crew was ordered to general quarters stations with steel helmets and impregnated anti-gas outer clothing and gas mask nearby. The gun crews were in place in each 20 mm was ready to fire

Between the beach and the incoming LCTs lie numerous underwater obstacles and mines. The demolition squad was scheduled to land at H-hour to clear a pathway for incoming craft, but the markers had not yet been spotted. The five LCT's scanned the beach for the marker, but the smoke was dense.

1760 YARDS – 1 MILE
As the 540 was about a mile from the beach, the gun crews got the word to put on their protective gas permeable gear. Guns were ready, but the worries about German planes were unfounded…no German aircraft had yet been spotted. Skipper and my dad continued to search for the Easy Red landmarks. The rise in the easternmost part of the beach was where they expected the “E” marker to identify Easy Red.

1200 YARDS – 2/3 MILE
Jerry Binder, the ship’s cook who also served as medic, undertaker and clergyman, and Carl Ireland were standing in the 2 foot-wide space between the galley and the crew’s quarter looking toward the beach. Binder would be leading the first-aid team and both were anxious about what was coming. Binder noticed some splashes in the water to the port side of the craft, and realized that they were now within range of the German guns.

Ireland, an engine-ramp operator went below to his battle station and Binder, as primary “first aid” man, remained on the tank deck, between the galley and the crew’s quarters. Looking upward toward the conning tower, he saw that the skipper had opened the door to yell instructions to the guys forward on the tank deck. Skipper was half in the pilothouse and half out, with the door of the pilothouse between him and the enemy. Skipper yelled over to my dad asking if dad could see the marker yet. Just then the smoke lifted at the marker came into sight. When Skipper saw the big “E” marker he turned to Elmer Mueller, who was on the wheel at that time, and instructed him to head straight in to the beach. Full power!

At 900 YARDS - ½ MILE
Skipper nodded to my dad, and just as he turned back toward the beach, a German 44mm shell passed through the door he was standing behind, taking off the skipper’s left leg just below the knee and burst on the bulkhead behind him. Rebounding shrapnel caught him in the back and the groin, and the blast threw Skipper a few feet forward onto the deck above the officer's quarters. My dad’s position on the port gun was 15 feet away from where the skipper fell. With only the open space of tank deck some 10 feet below, between them, dad saw the agony on skipper's face. Binder, down on the tank deck also saw the Skipper get hit, and attempted to run to his aid, but the enemy fire was too intense. In utter disregard for his own personal safety, and in the face of the unrelenting enemy fire concentrated on the Pilot House area, Bill Wilhoit, the Executive Officer, who has just joined the seasoned crew a few weeks ago immediately dashed out to the Skipper’s aid. Wilhoit picked up the skipper and brought him safely back to the pilot house. Bill who was celebrating graduation from Georgia Tech just a month before, assumed command of the LCT-540 900 yards off the coast of Normandy.

BOOM!! An 88mm shell slammed into the bow 540

BOOM! A 50mm shell hit the starboard gun tub, stunning but not wounding the crew. Keeping his head, Sherwood Harris made a quick assessment that the gun was inoperable. He and Libby decided to abandon the gun.

800 YARDS – 2/3 MILE
There was a very strong right to left 5 knot current along the shore line. The assault team had only been able to clear a path that was 50 yards wide. The strong current, combined with rough seas required a major effort to keep the craft heading straight into the beach. The net effect of the current however, was to shift the eventual landing sites of the LCTs further west on the Easy Red Beachhead. BOOM!! An 88mm shell slammed into the starboard side of the Officer’s Quarters and cut the communication lines to the Pilot House above.

Forward of the Pilot House another shell struck the starboard gun-tub, just after the men had abandoned it. Sherwood Harris, the gunner, had had a hard time getting out of the straps holding him to the gun and almost didn’t make it out of the tub before a second shell hit his position. The enemy fire was too intense to go very far so he crouched behind the gun tub to keep out of fire.

600 YARDS
BOOM! BOOM! Two other shells struck the 540 in the bow. Fire from beach intensifies as the craft get closer to the beach. A shell ricocheted off one of the half-tracks and took the left arm of one of the soldiers slamming him into the back of a jeep. The force of the impact separated four hand grenades which were attached to the soldiers belt from their pins. Before soldiers around him knew what happened, the four grenades exploded and wounded 12 other soldiers. Jerry Binder rushed 30 feet along the tank deck to reach the injured soldiers. The guy initially hit by the shell by blown beyond recognition. Binder was able to quickly assess two guys who needed attention, and organized a small crew to carry them to the galley.

400 YARDS
BOOM! A shell hits port gun-tub and exploded a 20 mm magazine, which rocked the gun-tub and the crew. Bob Kearney was dazed, and after jumping out of the tub, fell down behind the tub for cover. He looked over at Sherwood Harris in a similar position 15 feet away behind the starboard gun-tub. The exploding magazine, had knocked dad to the floor of the tub. In a daze, dad raised himself off the floor and onto his shaky feet. Now he truly was a “ 6 foot target behind a 3’ wall. Standing in the tub, he shook the cob webs and quickly realized his protection was on fire. He straightened himself upright, and he slowly, calmly removed the flaming hood as if to mock the German effort. Then the snipers opened up on him. Bullets starting raining down around the gun tub. Dad jumped over the 3’ wall to get out of the tub, and then lept up onto the 4’ high anchor wench located just behind the port gun. Dad sprinted aft for about 25’on top of equipment and crates, which had been stored topside of the galley. With dad running across the deck, enemy snipers continued to concentrate their fire on him, just like in the movies, with bullets bouncing dangerously close to his heels. At the end of his gauntlet, dad had nowhere to run. Sniper fire continued to shower down around him, and he dove through an opening in the anchor assembly. Dad was able to snake down to the tank deck where Jerry Binder treated him.

200 YARDS
This errant German fire although missing my dad was able to set fire to a 5-gallon “Gerry Can” filled with gasoline which had been lashed to the tank deck above the head. Sherwood Harris, from his spot just behind the starboard gun-tub had watched my dad’s run for life 20 feet away, and saw the German fire ignite the gasoline explosion. He didn’t think twice, before he jumped up and raced aft towards the fire. He might have been the hotshot gunner, but he immediately realized the danger which the fire presented. Elmer Mueller was steering the craft, and felt the concussion from the explosion. He wasn’t aware of the danger until he saw Harris race towards the rear of the craft. Mueller told the ensign, he was going to fight the fire and Bill Wilhoit took over the helm. Mueller quickly joined in the fire-fighting effort. As Harris approached the fire two more cans erupted into a forty-foot high ball of fire and thick black smoke at the rear of the craft. The rear part of a half-track loaded with explosives was engulfed in flames. Everyone thought this was the end. Too much fire…. Too little time… too many explosives.

Harris (a gunner) and Mueller (the helmsman) with little training in fire fighting outside of the impromptu lessons the Skipper had asked the fire team to provide to the crew a few weeks before, were able to put the fire out before any serious damage was done. Both would later receive the Silver Star for their actions and quick thinking that day.

The smoke however continued to pour from the back of the craft, and it certainly helped the German soldiers aware the craft was in trouble. Another shell went through the rear of a trailer and exploded next to a jeep killing two men in the jeep and wounding 15 others. As the craft churned the last few yards to the beach, the dead soldiers were taken out of the jeep and replaced by others.

LCT-540 slammed onto Omaha Beach at 0720 hours to deliver the 57 men, 3 half-tracks, 10 jeeps with trailers and thousands of pounds of explosives. The 14 vehicles on board had their engines going… Shells were slamming into the craft non-stop. Soldiers were keeping down, but they were too close. They wanted at the Germans.

Everyone’s adrenalin was pumping. Drivers gunned their engines. Bill Wilhoit gave the order “Lower the ramp” to Tom McKay, another Philly guy who was the petty officer in charge of the Ramp Detail. No response. Bill gave the order again. No response. One of the 88mm shells had disconnected all communications between the bridge and the rest of the ship, and consequently the order to lower the ramp could not be received by the seamen in the ramp engine room. With the craft beached, the 540 was a sitting duck on Omaha. They landed 1,000 yards away from where they were expected to land, but unfortunately they were within 700 yards of an 88mm cannon, 3 – 75mm guns, 3 - 50mm guns, 8 machine guns placements and 2 mortar positions. The shells kept raining down on the beached craft. No communication with the ramp crew located 50 feet away from the Pilot House and almost certain death to try to get word to them. After ten minutes of sitting on the beach, taking fire and not being able to unload the men and equipment Ensign Wilhoit gave the order to pull off from the beach.

According to the ship’s log, LCT-540 “hit the beach at 07:20, receiving 9 direct hits from German 88mm cannon, skipper Nye Moses & 3 soldiers killed, 8 crewmen received shrapnel and burns. 27 army wounded. The log also shows 07:30 Pulled off still loaded. Bill Wilhoit gave the order to pull back to the AP area in order to make necessary repairs to the communication system and get medical attention for the wounded.

The skipper lived only about an hour and a half and died at approximately 0830. He didn’t last long enough for the crew to get him to a doctor. As he lay there in the pilothouse, knowing that he was going to die, he spoke with the crew and gave them instructions and urged them to press on with the mission. It was too important! He then asked crew members to write to his folks and to comfort them. When he died, Jerry Binder got out his prayer book and said some prayers for him; also read the twenty-third Psalm.

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

He leadeth me beside the still waters.He restoreth my soul:

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:

For thou art with me;

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;

Thou annointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

Bill Wilhoit, Jerry Binder and Carl Ireland treated approximately twenty-nine soldiers and eight sailors for their wounds. LCT-540 pulled up to the APA to drop off crew members army personnel who were wounded, and at 1015 hours the 540 headed back to Omaha. Then came the realization that they were going to face the enemy once more. They were all scared and no one was anxious to return, but the crew realized that their duty lie ahead of them.

Navy brass realized the aerial bombardment and pre invasion shelling from the battleships and destroyers had not been as effective as needed. LCTs were ordered wait a few miles offshore, while a few destroyers whose captains saw the predicament of the troops on the beach came within a few hundred yards of Omaha and pounded the German defensive positions enough to allow landings to resume. LCT-540 hit the beach and retracted fully unloaded in 5 minutes. After they discharged the soldiers, they surveyed the 540, and it was a bloody mess. The bodies of the three dead soldiers and the skipper were just lying on the deck. It wasn’t until 10:30 hours the next day that a Coast Guard Cutter came alongside to take the bodies. Ensign Moses was already in a stretcher, so it was a simple matter to place his body aboard the cutter. However, the soldiers were in a rather poor condition to be handled, so the crew of the 540 were informed that we would have to bury these soldiers at sea themselves. It was a messy, bloody job. The crew placed the soldiers in blankets and wrapped them in the traditional Navy manner for burial, taking each man individually and burying him with an individual prayer. At 13:00 hours Jerry Binder, the 540’s cook, officiated at the burial. He did not know what these men’s religions were. They may have been Protestants, Catholics, or Jews. Therefore, in order to give them proper burial, he read them a prayer from each creed. The crew of the 540 continued to transport men, machine and material to Omaha Beach over the next few days.

German fire had caught my dad with a nasty wound to the buttocks just as he dived through a small opening in the frame brace, supporting the anchor cable at the stern. Because the 540 had not laid anchor, there was very little space for my dad to fit through. The next day, he examined the brace, through which he had dived and discovered that it was utterly impossible for his body to pass through it. “I must have been scared skinny,” he remarked to the crew and gave the crew the first belly laugh that they had in days. When it was later announced that Mueller and Harris were being awarded the Silver Star for their heroic action in fighting the fire on deck, dad, the comedian, popped up with, “I got robbed, and I think I should rate a Silver Star too. After all, if the Nazis weren’t shooting at me, there wouldn’t have been any fire for them to put out,” That was just like dad always joking.

For their participation in the “D” Day invasion, Ensign William L Wilhoit was awarded the Navy Cross. Ensign Nye Moses, Sherwood Lee Harris (Gunner’s Mate Third Class), and Elmer Mueller (Electrician’s Mate Second Class) were awarded the Silver Star. Nine men were awarded the Purple Heart, including my dad. The entire crew of the LCT 540 was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, which is the highest award which can be awarded to a military unit which must have displayed such gallantry, determination and esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions to have set it apart from and above other units participating in the same campaign. The degree of heroism required is the same as that which would be required for award of a Navy Cross to an individual. The Navy Cross is second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor as an individual award.

HISTORY OF THE LCT - Landing Craft Tank
Landing Craft were naval vessels with one basic design objective… the capability of carrying their cargo directly onto a beachhead. In the case of the LCT, that meant the ability to deliver 6 tanks or a comparable 150 ton load onto a beach. The LCT could trace its lineage back to a World War I craft called a Lighter which was used primarily to load and unload men and horses. Renewed attention in the vehicle started again in 1940 when Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill expressed interest in a naval vessel capable of carrying tanks directly to a beachhead. Churchill reviewed designs from in 1937 craft but found them lacking. With Germany poised to invade England, I thought it was curious that Churchill was still eager to go on the offensive. Churchill wanted the vessel to carry a load of tanks and armored vehicles in any kind of weather and deliver them directly onto the beach on now occupied coast of Europe. The prime minister's idea called for a vessel able to land 3 36 ton tanks directly onto a beach; a vessel able to sustain itself it at sea for at least a week; a vessel with acceptable if not commodious crew accommodations and a design simplicity whereby the craft could easily be built by joining separate unitized sections which would make for easier shipment aboard large cargo vessels. He also advocated a simple sequence of construction that be executed by steelworkers unfamiliar with the intricacies of ship construction. In short, he wanted assault craft that were inexpensive, easy to build, expendable vessels that could put tanks and men ashore in the quickest time.

Taking the prime minister's challenge, in three days British Naval architects completed initial drawings for a vessel that would become a 152 foot landing craft with a 29 foot beam and shallow draft. The first LCT Mark I was launched in November 1940, and it was an all welded steel-hulled vessel weighing 372 tons that drew only 3 feet of water at its bow. One important key to the LCT's concept was a large stern mounted cage anchor which was dropped while approaching the beach. This anchor helped to keep the craft from broaching and with its powerful winch in able to pull itself off the beach once the cargo was unloaded. The LCT design continued to be improved and by the start of 1944 the Navy had begun to accept delivery of LCT Mark VIs.

When the three pontoon sections, which form the hull of the craft are bolted together, the Mark VI measures 120 feet long, 32 feet wide and at this point is little more than a barge. Atop this “barge” are placed 4 prefabricated rooms of ½ inch steel-plate which are welded onto the tank deck. Three rooms measure 20 feet long by 8 ½’ wide, while the fourth was only 12 feet long and 8 ½ feet wide. One of these steel rooms served as the galley and was placed at the rear (aft) of the tank deck on the left (port) side. Another of the rooms served as the enlisted quarters for 12 men and was situated on the port side just in front of the galley. Directly across from the enlisted quarters a third room served as the quarters for 2 officers and up to six more enlisted men. The fourth prefabricated room was the “head” or bathroom which measured eight and half feet wide by 12 feet long and was situated just behind the officers quarters on the starboard (right) side of the craft. There is 13 feet of open tank deck between the port and starboard pre-fabricated rooms. The pilothouse measuring approximately 6 x 9 was placed atop the officer’s quarters and served as a command center for the craft. The Mark VI had three diesel engines each putting out about 225 hp and has a sailing range of about 700 miles at 7 knots (about 8 miles per hour). When loaded to capacity of 150 tons the Mark VI has a maximum draft of 5 feet. It was designed to deliver tanks, half tracks, trucks, jeeps and personnel to a beach in Europe. By driving as far up onto the beach as possible, the front ramp dropped and the transported vehicles could drive directly onto the beach. The process in loading a LCT was very similar to that of a Ferry. The LCT “backs up” to a dock or to another ship like an LSU, opens the backdoor of the craft which accommodates a ramp from the larger ship, and allows vehicles to be loaded onto the tank deck facing forward. When loading is complete the back door is closed the LCT sails to the landing site, and beaches itself, drops the 13th feet wide ramp, allowing the transported vehicles to disembark right onto the beach.