Theorywolf Posted June 6, 2017 Share #1 Posted June 6, 2017 Probably most members have not seen this helmet of mine. Years ago when I bought it off ebay I had no idea what the letters and numbers meant. Later I found out that the helmet had a story that had not been told about nine U.S. Navy crews on nine Landing Craft Gun (Large) ships upfront on D-Day firing on German positions before and after the troops began to land. Because the ships were known as British gun ships, it was assumed all these years that they were British-manned by Royal Marines. They had been lend-leased by the U.S. from the British just before D-Day. I published an article in Militaria Magazine on the little known history of the ships and their crews. I am now co-writing an article with a well-known collector among the collecting community for publication in a U.S. WW II magazine. Recently new information has been uncovered about these ships. I would like to share a couple of paragraphs form the CO of the ship my helmet came from: USLCGL 893. The 893 was with three other LCGLs at Utah Beach just about the time of this writing all those years ago. Here are a couple of paragraphs from his Action Report as the 893 got to the departing line and headed into the beach: "Arrived at the transport area, and at flank speed proceeded to our position on the port flank of the Red beach boat lane. We [Like most of the other LCGLs] arrived late, the action was already in progress, and we began our run to the beach, at once. Boat waves were already moving toward the beach, but we succeeded in overtaking and passing them. Due to our lateness, and the presence of many small craft, we did not stream our mine sweeping gear. "As we proceeded toward the beach, a P. C. directly ahead of us, evidently a control vessel, struck a mine and, within a matter of moments capsize and sunk. We were unable to stop for survivors whom we saw in the water, but cast loose several cork floats as we passed through them. "0555, having picked up our targets, we opened fire with our 4.7 inch guns; opening range 6000 yards. Shells were bursting in the water close to our ship and we were of the opinion that they were falling short from our own ships. Within a few minutes we saw gun flashes from the shore and realized that we were the target for at least one shore battery. At flank speed we circled and zigzagged until we had definitely spotted the position of this battery, and immediately returned the fire. After five salvos from our 4.7 inch guns we were no longer being fired upon, and assumed the battery had been silenced. We then continued firing on our designated targets." This is just one story from these ghost ships of D-Day. I'm sitting here with the old helmet in front of me and watching a documentary on D-Day as the dawn comes to Omaha and Utah beaches. Great way to remember these great heroes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theorywolf Posted June 6, 2017 Author Share #2 Posted June 6, 2017 last one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugme Posted June 6, 2017 Share #3 Posted June 6, 2017 Great helmet and accompanying story Mike. Very appropriate for the upcoming 73rd Anniversary of D-Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38Driver Posted June 6, 2017 Share #4 Posted June 6, 2017 Amen to that. Thanks for sharing the story with us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr-X Posted June 6, 2017 Share #5 Posted June 6, 2017 Awesome Helmet. Great story and research. Thanks for sharing it with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdk0911 Posted June 6, 2017 Share #6 Posted June 6, 2017 awesome story and lid!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raddock Posted June 6, 2017 Share #7 Posted June 6, 2017 Very nice, great to hear it when a helmets story isn't lost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M24 Chaffee Posted June 6, 2017 Share #8 Posted June 6, 2017 Great helmet and research! Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1canpara Posted June 6, 2017 Share #9 Posted June 6, 2017 Amazing helmet and story Mike! Thanks for sharing. Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill47 Posted June 6, 2017 Share #10 Posted June 6, 2017 Great helmet, Mike and with a great history. It's good to see it again. Best, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted June 8, 2017 Share #11 Posted June 8, 2017 That's what makes this so worthwhile. History baby! Ronnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burning Hazard Posted June 8, 2017 Share #12 Posted June 8, 2017 Mike, this is an awesome helmet with provenance! I kid you not, I'm positive I've seen WW2 footage of this gun ship scenario you wrote about. I was watching D-Day footage reel and it shows two of these smaller ships just off the coast of one of the beaches, suddenly one ship is seen stricken/sinking after hitting a mine while the other passes right behind it at a pretty close range but does not stop. I'll have to try and find the footage again and see if there was any numbers painted on those ships that match. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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