stealthytyler Posted August 14, 2015 Share #1 Posted August 14, 2015 At 3:30AM on July 10, 1943, my grandfather stormed Red Beach in Gela, Sicily during Operation Avalanche. He was a radioman in Platoon C-9 of the 4th Naval Beach Battalion. They landed with elements of Darby's Rangers and the Big Red One. His job was to establish ship-to-shore communications in support of the invasion. During the invasion, German bombers started pounding the beachhead. Unfortunately, a convoy of American C-47s followed shortly behind the Germans. A trigger happy gunner on an off-shore ship started firing at the Americans. This triggered every ship and shore battery to join in. A number of C-47s were shot down by friendly fire and I believe a few hundred American paratroopers were killed. My grandfathers unit helped evacuate the dead and wounded. My grandfather told me that a wounded paratrooper was so upset by the situation that he was just giving all of his items away out of frustration. He gave my grandfather this knife. The scabbard is covered with names and numbers. My grandfather carried the knife during the invasion of Salerno and was later told not to be captured by the Germans while carrying this knife, as they did not take kindly to "commandos". He kept it in his seabag after Salerno for the rest of the war. I recently started a thread for my grandfathers M1 helmet. You may see it here: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/247208-grandpas-wwii-navy-beach-battalion-m1-helmet/&do=findComment&comment=1974637 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stealthytyler Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share #2 Posted August 14, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stealthytyler Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share #3 Posted August 14, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stealthytyler Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share #4 Posted August 14, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stealthytyler Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share #5 Posted August 14, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USdog Posted August 14, 2015 Share #6 Posted August 14, 2015 Too cool! Were you able to track down who the original owner was with the names on the back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patchcollector Posted August 14, 2015 Share #7 Posted August 14, 2015 Great story and a sweet knife/sheath combo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stealthytyler Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share #8 Posted August 14, 2015 Too cool! Were you able to track down who the original owner was with the names on the back? Yes, the owner was Quentin R. Roberts. His serial number is written on the scabbard as 15086599. His information is on Fold3.com. I actually contacted some folks in his hometown that remember him and also the girls names that are listed on the scabbard. He passed away in 1990. I think the 504th was the unit that got shot down by FF. Does anyone have a 1943 roster with his name on it? THANKS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundance Posted August 15, 2015 Share #9 Posted August 15, 2015 Beautiful knife. It's good to know that it will probably be passes down generation to generation for years to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camillus Posted August 15, 2015 Share #10 Posted August 15, 2015 great knife, you are very lucky to know the history since you know about it you have it documented Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronny67 Posted August 15, 2015 Share #11 Posted August 15, 2015 Hello, yes it was the 504th who got friendly fire during Operation Huskey. I need to say, that without a doubt this is the most cool knife and sheath set I have ever seen. It is perfectly characteristic of the mid-war paratrooper. I will post a pic or two of Sicily paras with this exact knife combo. I want to thank you for sharing this with us, this has already made my day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronny67 Posted August 15, 2015 Share #12 Posted August 15, 2015 one more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronny67 Posted August 15, 2015 Share #13 Posted August 15, 2015 ok, just one more... Because I am seriously jazzed about this knife! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stealthytyler Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share #14 Posted August 15, 2015 ok, just one more... Because I am seriously jazzed about this knife! Great photos! Thank you very much! Wish I could find a photo of Quentin Roberts, the original owner of the knife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKIPH Posted August 15, 2015 Share #15 Posted August 15, 2015 There were 23 C-47s shot down by the Navy, plus 37 more damaged. The 504th received 400 casualties out of the 1600 men they sent to Sicily. About 31 years ago, at the Rod & Gun Club I hung out at, I got to know a gent who was one of the gunners that shot down the C-47s. He said they knew they were C47s, but were ordered to shoot at them. Having served in 1/504 in the early 70s, we never developed any kind of friendship after that. It did trouble him, bothered me too. SKIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stealthytyler Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share #16 Posted August 15, 2015 There were 23 C-47s shot down by the Navy, plus 37 more damaged. The 504th received 400 casualties out of the 1600 men they sent to Sicily. About 31 years ago, at the Rod & Gun Club I hung out at, I got to know a gent who was one of the gunners that shot down the C-47s. He said they knew they were C47s, but were ordered to shoot at them. Having served in 1/504 in the early 70s, we never developed any kind of friendship after that. It did trouble him, bothered me too. SKIP Do you remember which ship he was a gunner on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKIPH Posted August 15, 2015 Share #17 Posted August 15, 2015 I don't recall if the ship ever even came up, but there were several if I recall from the history. SKIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stealthytyler Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share #18 Posted August 15, 2015 I don't recall if the ship ever even came up, but there were several if I recall from the history. SKIP There were a number of troop transport ships, destroyers, LSTs, etc off the coast. Im sure the fire from the sea was very intense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronny67 Posted August 15, 2015 Share #19 Posted August 15, 2015 There was initial confusion because the navy was expecting a German bomber attack and every ship was on high alert and every gunner was waiting with their finger on the trigger for the nazi Ju88s to show up. When the 504th showed up a single sailor got excited and that set off the whole armada. After that, every other airborne operation conducted would employ extensive safety procedures to prevent such a loss from happening every again. During Op Avalanche (Italy) the navy armada was ordered to not fire at all during the window of time the paras would be flying overhead, even if German aircraft did show up. Once again, this knife is amazing, as is your grandfather's service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stealthytyler Posted August 16, 2015 Author Share #20 Posted August 16, 2015 There was initial confusion because the navy was expecting a German bomber attack and every ship was on high alert and every gunner was waiting with their finger on the trigger for the nazi Ju88s to show up. When the 504th showed up a single sailor got excited and that set off the whole armada. After that, every other airborne operation conducted would employ extensive safety procedures to prevent such a loss from happening every again. During Op Avalanche (Italy) the navy armada was ordered to not fire at all during the window of time the paras would be flying overhead, even if German aircraft did show up. Once again, this knife is amazing, as is your grandfather's service. Friendly Fire happened again during Operation Avalanche. This story was told to me by numerous veterans of my grandfathers platoon during my research over the years. Platoon C-9 of the 4th Naval Beach Battalion landed on Blue Beach at approximately 3:30am with elements of the 531st Shore Engineers. Only 4 waves made it ashore before the German 88's and tanks started pounding the beach. The remaining landing crafts were redirected to Yellow Beach to the north. My grandfathers job as a radioman was to setup his TBX radio to establish communication with the ships offshore. The German tanks made it to the sand dune line and a few tanks actually made it onto the open beach. This forced the platoon to stay low in their foxholes for almost 12 hours. Every time my grandfather and his team attempted to raise their TBX radio antenna to call for help, the Germans would open fire on them. They were unable to establish communications with the ships. The Navy offshore assumed that Blue Beach had been overrun. The Navy started shelling the tanks near the beach. The first navy salvos were landing near the waters edge and creeping through their foxholes. A number of sailors and engineers were wounded. I do not think anyone was killed. In a desperate attempt to save their own lives, a signalman from C-9 got up out of his foxhole and ran to the waters edge while under a hair of fire. He used semaphore flags to tell the ships to raise their fire. Luckily, a ship spotted his signal and the Navy started finding the right targets beyond the beach. This signalman was awarded the Silver Star. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad k Posted August 16, 2015 Share #21 Posted August 16, 2015 that knife is a real piece of history, I new one of the troopers years ago that was shot in the tailbone as he was comeing down and after he landed an anti aircraft gun crew on the ground threw a hand grenade at him that got him in the back. that was his first and last day in combat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKIPH Posted August 16, 2015 Share #22 Posted August 16, 2015 One big change that was observed during D-Day, was the addition of the white stripes added to Allied aircraft. Lessons were learned. SKIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patchcollector Posted August 16, 2015 Share #23 Posted August 16, 2015 Wow,I'm liking this thread;awesome knife,great(but tragic) battle accounts,and terrific photos too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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