Good morning all. In a few weeks' time I will be meeting a gentleman who served in the Royal Navy and landed on Omaha Beach alongside the Americans, in the second wave. He was not one of the coxswain who piloted the landing craft; he landed on the beach itself. I am wondering what Squadron/unit (or whatever other term may be used) he'd have been most likely to have been in? I know that 81 BDS from the RAF landed there, but this person was Royal Navy like I say. It would be great to be able to read about his unit, and to work out on which sector etc. he might have landed, ahead of the meeting. Thanks in advance if anyone can shed any light.
In any hope of finding (and receiving) accurate information it would be best to post the dear chaps name up, and any further details that you have. Kind regards, always, Jim.
Hi Jim, I'd prefer to keep his name off the thread as I am given to understand he is a rather private individual. However, from some further research this morning, I wonder if it may have been 504th Flotilla in question: "The Flotilla headed towards Omaha Beach where they landed on the boundary between Dog Red and Dog White at 0745hrs as part of the second wave" The D-Day Story Collection
Understood. Unfortunately though, regarding meaningful help with your search, no name equals needle in haystack, and little chance of being provided with information specifically pertaining to your gentleman. Good luck with it, fingers crossed you will be fortunate and find said needle in haystack. Kind regards, always, Jim.
Thanks Jim, I understand. Are you able to suggest please where I could look myself using the gentleman's name? I am curious to know if you/others have access to sources (using individual names) that I may also be able to access myself. Failing that, I may reach out to you directly as it seems that you might be able to help. Thanks again.
Thank you for sharing. I have had a look at that thread but I don't think it helps in this instance, unfortunately.
A no cost resource: Discovery | The National Archives Put your gentleman's name in the "keyword" box and click the "search" button. You can also try same with his service number if you have it. Other avenues via the internet come at a subscription cost e.g. Fold3; Find My Past, Ancestry etc. A broad front internet search (using any search engine) might produce something, but as with any broad search you can end up having to look through hundreds, if not thousands, of possibilities. That's when patience, perseverance, and not giving up, become a virtue. Kind regards, always, Jim.
Thank you, Jim. I will have a good look on that top resource. Unfortunately, when one Googles his name, the only relevant link that comes up is a news story discussing his experience, and nothing more specific than that. I have been conducting some further research in the meantime, and I came across the following thread (from this very website), which discusses the landing tables: OMAHA BEACH. This thread discusses 'Naval Fire Support Control Parties' and 'Naval Shore Fire Control Parties'. I presume that these are 'American' units. The gentleman in question carried a radio set which was damaged in the landing. I wonder if it's likely that a Royal Navy sailor could have been attached into such a unit if he had the required skill set? According to Wikipedia (I know), the Omaha Bombardment Group included the following Royal Navy destroyers: HMS Melbreak, HMS Talybont, HMS Tanatside. So presumably he could have been attached to one of these naval fire parties, and liaising back with the British destroyers? The following parties are mentioned in that thread, within certain 'Serials'. I have only specified these Serials as they appear to have landed in the second wave from H+ 30 minutes until H+50 minutes. This is on the assumption that the second wave began landing between 0700-0710 (source = Page 2 of the above thread) I have used the following source to add in [ ] the unit and sector in question: Omaha Beach - Normandy landings - Assault wave H Hour+30 minutes - D-Day OMAHA EAST. H+30 minutes. Serial 2051 is an LCVP from APA 45 Henrico carrying... ... 5 men from Naval Shore Fire Control Party [Co. G, 2nd Bn, 16th Regiment, 1st Division, landing on Easy Red] Serial 2052 is an LCVP from APA 45 Henrico carrying... ...6 men from Naval Shore Fire Control Party [Hq, 2nd Bn, 16th Regiment, 1st Division, landing on Easy Red] Serial 2065 is an LCVP carrying... ...7 men from Naval Shore Fire Control Party... ... It is not clear where this LCVP comes from but it collects headquarters personnel from Empire Anvil. [Hq, 3rd Bn, 16th Regiment, 1st Division, landing on Fox Green] Serial 2070 is an LCA from LSI(L) Empire Anvil carrying... ...5 men from Naval Shore Fire Control Party. [Hq, 3rd Bn, 16th Regiment, 1st Division, landing on Fox Green] OMAHA WEST. H+30 Minutes Serial 1064 was an LCA from Empire Javelin carrying... ...7 men from Naval Fire Support Control Party. [Co. B, 1st Bn, 116th Regiment, 29th Division, landing on Dog Green] Serial 1075 is an LCVP from APA 30 Thomas Jefferson carrying... ... 5 men from Naval Fire Support Control Party. [Hq, 2nd Bn, 116th Regiment, 29th Division, landing on Dog Red] Serial 1081 is an LCVP from APA 30 Thomas Jefferson carrying... ... 7 men from Naval Fire Support Control Party. [Hq, 2nd Bn, 116th Regiment, 29th Division, landing on Dog Red] H+ 50 minutes Serial 1109 is an LCVP from LSI(L) Empire Javelin carrying... ...5 men from Naval Fire Support Control Party [Co. C, 1st Bn, 116th Regiment, 29th Division, landing on Dog Green] So potentially he landed with one of these units?
If the gent landed deliberately then he was not part of the landing craft crew, although he may have been crew who was forced to land as the result of a damaged vessel. But if he was tasked to land he could have been from one of a few different shore roles that RN had on Omaha. But without a name I'm afraid there's very little we can do to help.
Thank you for the reply. Could one of the RN shore roles have been in one of the Naval Shore Fire / Fire Support units as I listed above? As I say, he did carry a radio. The hypotheses that I have discussed in my lengthy post above contain my best theory thus far.
Regarding the USN Naval Fire Support Control Parties, it's unlikely that they would have needed to have RN personnel attached to communicate with the handful of RN ships attached to the TG 124.9 Bombardment Group, as language complications would not be an issue. Plus it should be noted that in the case of the French, Dutch, French, Norwegian and Polish ships taking part, they had RN/Army signals/liaison personnel embarked on the ship to facilitate communications, rather than attach foreign speakers to the shore based RN Forward Observation Parties. Regards, Steve
Thanks Steve, that make sense. Do you have any alternative theories about why he would have landed with a radio, and what unit he was with? Information online re Royal Navy landing on the beach itself is very scant.
No RN Beach Commando units were involved in the Omaha Landing, so he wouldn't have been in one of them. Perhaps a random RN Signal Party was attached to a USN Beach Group, but I can't add any suggestion where to look to find any information on this. Regards, Ste ve
Perhaps the latter explanation is the case then. In which case, I imagine it's very unlikely I will ever be able to identify exactly where and when he landed on the beach (I'd love to know the sector and exact moment) unless he can remember himself.
I would suggest your option is to have a list of questions you want to ask the gentleman. If you go in with suggestions or your thoughts what he was involved in you could place the wrong ideas in his head. If you do find out stuff prior to the meeting ,keep it until he has exhausted his recollections of the time
Is there some reason why you didn't try to get that information from him in advance? Seems like a better idea than investing time and effort with guesswork about what he might have been doing on the beach.
I will ask his family for a bit more information before the meeting, and I am also being sent an audio recording of an interview which will hopefully shed more light, but I like to do my own research in the meantime. Once I've listened to this and also met him, the information re his own role will hopefully become nice and clear.
Not so private a person after all then, if you could find a news story on the internet via his name. Do you seriously expect us to research all the potential situations, units and people who might possibly match the description of "a RN chap who said he landed with a radio in OMAHA Area in the second wave", while not disclosing his name nor any additional info which may help (such as the news story to start with)? Michel
