Am posting this hear for Alan. I told him he could add to it. Happy to post the images, etc. Welcome to the forum. We look forward to talking with you. Very interesting!
Dear Marion,
Hello from the other side of 'The Pond'.
It is strange how coincidences conspire to bring people together. I have recently watched a BBC television programme about WW2 'Operation Mincemeat' which was an intricate deception to make the Germans believe that the Allied forces would invade Greece rather than Sicily. (It was devised by British Special Operations officer Ian Fleming, who wrote the 007 James Bond books!). The programme included footage of US soldiers preparing for the invasion and reading a small booklet titled "A Soldier's Guide to Sicily". I later decided to search the internet to see if this booklet was still available and came across your post of 14 Sept 2005 on the "VI Corps Combat Engineers" website in which you mention that you were looking for original copies of the booklet. In case you have not yet found the copies of that and others I would like to point out that there are copies of the guides to Sicily and to Italy for sale on Ebay at the moment.
My interest in WW2 comes from the area where I live which is on the south coast of Devon, England just outside of the resort town of Paignton. The whole of this area was deeply involved with the preparations for Operation Overlord and the invasion of Normandy where many of the slipways that were built and used have been preserved to commemorate those who passed over them. The US Navy Command HQ was at Dartmouth Naval College which the Royal Navy had vacated and just a couple of miles up the River Dart from there is Greenway House, the home of Agatha Christie, the famous crime writer. Her home was requisitioned for use by the officers of the US Coast Guard who commanded the LCI(L) of the 10th flotilla. They had previously been the 4th flotilla when involved with the Sicilian and Italian landings in July and September 1943. Whilst billeted at Greenway one of the officers painted a frieze around the walls of the library depicting a story of their exploits since leaving the USA in early 1943. (see photos attached).
This is where I have a particular interest as I am a guide at Greenway House which is now in the ownership of the National Trust and open to the public. It is indeed possible that some of your members were amongst the 190,000 that have visited in the two years that the house has been open (you can see photos and an article at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11...liday-home.html ).
I am currently undertaking research into the details of what is depicted in the frieze and the story behind it of what experiences the 4th (later the 10th) flotilla of the US Coast Guard had. I have not yet been able to determine which troops they transported to Sicily, Salerno and Normandy and any help from your members would be greatly appreciated. It might help to state that the LCI(L)s involved were numbers 83, 84, 85,86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 349, 350.
My apologies if this has been a little long-winded, it you think it would help I would be happy for you to post some or all of this message.
A very Happy New Year to you all, I hope that 2011 brings you peace and happiness.
Alan Forster (AlanF)
Agatha from Daily Mail 24Feb2009
From Daily Mail 24Feb2009
From Teawithmarykate files wordpress
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"