Now they all just had to wait together with over 80 other ships as future US president Eisenhower delayed the invasion by 24 hours due to bad weather. Simonds (pictured above) and Borinquen ships slipped out of Swansea's King’s Dock to join the US Navy force flagship that had left Newport on this first tide, the four ships carrying nearly 8,000 combat troops.Īssembling in Swansea Bay, they had to wait until were joined on the next tide by the Excelsior, then the Bienville and Explorer from Cardiff and finally the Exchequer and Marine Rave - also out of King’s Dock with another 11,400 men. "In the UK, even today, many people are still unaware that the largest single concentration of American troops in the Normandy invasion was to sail from the Welsh ports along the Bristol Channel." Camp Corner House, Scurlage, Gower in 1944Įarly on Sunday morning, June 4 the USAT’s George W Goethals, George S. Mr Howells said: "Today it’s easy to see what was happening with the obvious benefit of hindsight, but in June 1944 amid an amazing amount of secrecy, very few troops knew that they were about to take part in or that they would witness the greatest amphibious invasion in history. Yet more troops were thronging the roads and rail-tracks around Swansea. Other GIs such as the reserves of the assaulting 115th and 175th regiments of the 29th Infantry had the shortest distance to cover marching from Singleton Park. Second and third battalions who had been on Gower at Scurlage and 1,235 troops were trucked via Park Mill, through Swansea's Uplands, down Walter Road, across the River Tawe to the guarded entrance of the barbed wired cordoned off docks. They had only been with us for a month or so since taking the place of their comrades of the Pennsylvanian National Guard 28th Division back in April, but 77 years ago, the GIs of the 2nd Infantry Division were now packed and ready to leave South Wales for Northern France.īy truck or on foot the GIs left their camps in the very early June mornings and went direct to ports with Swansea and Barry being the principal embarkation points to northern France.įrom as far away as St Mellons beyond Cardiff, two of the 38th Infantry battalions travelled by train westwards, joining their other battalion who had marched from the windblown Kenfig Burrows Camp to get the train at Pyle station.įrom the other side of Swansea the 23rd Regiment first battalion marched from Mynydd Lliw to Gorseinon station for another train journey. Here Mr Howells, who lives in Llansadwrn, looks at Swansea's preparations to deploy 13,000 troops to the beaches of Normandy. The book, Oxwich to Omaha: America GIs in South Wales, by Phil Howells, details the true extent of the South Wales contribution and preparations for what was the largest seaborne invasion in history during the Second World War. If you would like to volunteer to help Stories Behind the Stars reach its goal of telling every single World War II Gold Star hero’s story by the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII on September 2, 2025, click here to sign up.Sunday, June 6, marks the 77th anniversary of D-Day.Ī Carmarthenshire author has been looking at the role South Wales played alongside American forces before and during the Normandy Landings of 1944 during the Second World War. Watch the video below for more on that effort: One portion of that massive effort that has already been completed, thanks to the grass roots efforts of volunteers, is a library of biographies for the 2,502 Americans who died as part of the D-Day invasions on June 6, 1944. You can link to Mastrangelo’s complete original Hometown Heroes interview from 2016 here.įinally you’ll hear from Don Milne, founder of Stories Behind the Stars, a non-profit initiative that seeks to tell the personal story of every one of the more than 400,000 Americans who died while serving in World War II.
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He served with the 607th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company, which would end up overseeing the burial of more than 80,000 troops in Europe by the end of World War II. Mastrangelo, who recently celebrated his 97th birthday, was responsible for burying 458 Americans who were killed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. You’ll also hear Vito Mastrangelo’s memories of June 6, 1944. Next year, on the 78th anniversary of D-Day, a permanent display featuring the text of that prayer will be officially unveiled at the National World War II Memorial. Click here for a link to the audio and complete transcription of that address from the FDR Library. Roosevelt’s radio address on June 6, 1944, which took the form of a heartfelt prayer. This episode includes an excerpt of President Franklin D. Vito Mastrangelo buried 458 Americans at Omaha Beach.