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WWII Combat Sailors in COLOR - Beach Battalion


stealthytyler
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stealthytyler

Here is a photo of my grandfathers navy platoon buddies that I colorized. This is Platoon (yes, they adopted platoon from the Army) C-9 of the 4th Naval Beach Battalion. Photo was taken 2 days after the invasion of Salerno, Italy on Sept. 11, 1943 in a town called Capaccio. The 4th Beach Battalion were the first to storm the beaches of Paestum to set up ship-to-shore communications and various other duties to support the 36th Infantry landings. The blue stripe on the helmets represent the landing zone of BLUE BEACH near the town of Paestum. Notice the random gear/uniforms and weapons they have. HBT coveralls, dungarees, Springfield bolt action, Thompson smg, M1 Garand... They were a very unique unit that lived and trained with the Army and British commandos in North Africa between invasions of Sicily, Italy and Southern France.

 

I have been researching this platoon for some time now. Let me know if anyone has a connection to the 4th NBB. I am building a collection. Thanks.

 

I did the best I could on the colors. Let me know if I missed anything.

 

ENJOY!

 

post-131595-0-98684700-1424728640.jpg

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stealthytyler

Amazing Job looks great!

 

Hey Uplandmod, thanks for the compliment and thanks again for letting me acquire an awesome 4th BBN group from you! It is in good appreciative hands!

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stealthytyler

I have photos of this unit during the invasion of southern france AFTER Normandy and they wore blue dungarees when they landed at sainte maxime a few hours after initial landings. I only have pictures of them a day or more after the invisions of sicily and italy. Not sure what they wore when they hit the beach. But everything I see is a mixture of dungarees and hbt coveralls. Maybe each battalion had different standards as far as uniform goes. I personally would hate wearing blue in combat haha

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stealthytyler

My grandfather is not pictured here. There were about 30 guys in the platoon. I became friends with the sailor in the top right while searching for information on my grandfathers experiences during the war. I even traveled to meet him. He was a WEALTH of knowledge. He passed away a few years back and I was able to acquire his grouping which included photos, uniforms, bring backs, etc...I even made an award winning short film about the invasion of Sicily with his audio tape memoirs.

 

Here are some pictures of my grandfather:

 

Standing over Radio during Operation Dragoon at port of Sainte Maxime, S. France (combat gear and weapons on ground)

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Second from left

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His helmet

post-131595-0-12925100-1424830903.jpg

 

Members of 4th Beach Battalion taking cover during artillery attack (explosion in background)... Salerno (Paestum), Italy... Operation Avalanche

post-131595-0-73369100-1424831021.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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stealthytyler

Forgot to note what the colors mean on his helmet:

 

Red Stripe(not seen, bottom layer) - RED BEACH Gela, Sicily...Operation, Husky

Blue Stripe - BLUE BEACH Paestum, Italy ... Operation Avalanche

Yellow Stripe - YELLOW BEACH Southern France near Sainte Maxime ... Operation Dragoon

Grey Stripe - I am not sure...

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I just stumbled upon this now, but I have to say excellent work on the colorization, Tyler! Always enjoy seeing your grandfather's helmet. ;)

 

Thank you Grant!

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