Some info on D-Day invasion please

Am attempting to write down some of late husband's experiences for my children and hope someone in this group can help me.

What branch of service operated the landing craft which carried soldiers from the ships in channel to the shore at Omaha Beach?

Thank you for any info. mb

The Navy.

Art Layton

The U.S. Navy, including the U.S. Coast Guard.

coastguard and navy

Did naval personnel actually drive the landing craft though?

These services all operated smaller craft on the US beaches:

US Navy US Coast Guard Royal Navy Possibly Royal Marines too And I may have forgotten another service.

It wasn't just the Americans at Omaha...

The US Navy and coastguard took part. But so did the British Royal Navy. If you have a look at this US landing craft site you will find some information on the part played by the Royal Navy in one of the worst parts of Omaha.
http://www.usslci.com/html/uklca.html

I am sure there must be more such information on the web.

Paul

please arrest me on this, but i recall reading some where that most of the 'landingcraft drivers' where from the RCN

Was it purely British&Commonwealth&& at Juno and Gold? Or were LC's assigned all across the invasion force regardless?

soc.history.war.world-war-ii with:

An interesting side point brought up by this reply: in case of formal Declaration of War by the US Congress, the USCG becomes by law part of the USN. Outside of such official declaration, the USCG is part of the Department of Transportation.

There are literally hundreds of excellent books about the landings. Two of the best known are 'D-Day' by Stephen Ambrose and 'The Longest Day' by Cornelius Ryan. There are also thousands of magazine/journal articles with very specific information. Most of the LCVP drivers carrying US troops were American Navy or Coast Guard. A good place to start searching would be www.ibiblio.org/pha/html which has a tremendous amount of information as well as many links to other WW2 sites. You can also go to the Army's Center for Military History site (www.army.mil/cmh) or Navy sites (www.history.navy.mil or www.usni.org). Another good place is www.history.acusd.edu/gen/ww2_links. An interesting related site is www.guide-books.co.uk. This is run by Mjor and Mrs. Holt who have a company that organizes tours to former battlefields. They put out excellent guidebooks. Their book on the Normandy Landing beaches is the best available. My wife and I used it the last time we went to Normandy and found lots and lots of unofficial museums run by local folks, including one that was housed in an old Quonset hut and featured the life of a Navy Lieutenant who was in charge of one of the landing craft. We are headed back to Normandy in June for the 60th anniversary events. I belong to the Paris Post of the American Legion and we will be participating in a number of ceremonies honoring the servicemen involved in the landings. If there is anything more I can help you with, please let me know. If you wish, let me know your e-mail address and I will help however I can.