Volunteers Make Waves
Veterans Speak Up at D-Day Exhibit Opening
When the Liberty shipleremiah O'Brien departed San Francisco for her hi storic return to Britain and Normandy for DDay ce lebrations there, she left with an experienced crew. In fact, the average age of her all-volunteer crew was 65! What were all these people doing, whose peers would more likely be found in lei surely retirement than embarking on such an arduous adventure? What put them up to it? Well , the answer comes direct from the bridge of the Jeremiah 0' Brien, from Rear Admiral Thomas Patterson, who said: "Each member of this crew is firml y commited to representing the United States Merchant Marine and the US Naval Armed Guard who sailed and fought these ships under th e United States flag." Admiral Patterson 's dispatch went on to thank NMHS members for their contributions to the O'Brien and her trip. The NMHS role in thi s was to urge our members to campaign for the enabling legislation, sponsored by Representative Helen Delich Bentley, and to contribute money. Rep. Bentley acknowledged this support in a letter encouraging "all citizens who cherish the American heritage
On 21 May, the Society began its 50th anniversary commemoration of D-Day with the opening of a D-Day photo exhibit at our headquarters at Charles Point in Peekskill. The open ing of"Remembering D-Day" drew a crowd of sixty people and featured an illustrated lecture by Society president Peter Stanford entitled "D-Day: Operation Overlord" fo llowed by a di scussion during which WWII veterans gave their recollections of the military campaign that began the liberation of Europe. Fifty years after 5,000 ships delivered 170,000 troops to the Nonnandy shores on 6 June, 1944, the historic day is being remembered worldwide as one of the defining moments of the 20th century. At our event, the several Normandy veterans present gave riveting, first-hand accounts of the operation to a deeply appreciative audience. As slides appeared on the screen , veterans joined in the presentation , providing recollections that reflected a spectrum of experience-from the dazed , shell -shocked and imperfect memories of you ng men in their most frightening hour, to the strangely detailed images of minds forced to a state of super alertness by the imperatives of survival. When the image of a sunken Liberty ship came up, merchant seaman Frank Lavalle of Beacon, New York, exclaimed "That's my ship! theFrancisC. Harrington" and went on to describe how she was blown up by an acoustic mine off Omaha on the morning of7 June. The explosion claimed the lives of 45 US soldiersabouttodisembark forthe beaches Normandy veteran Joe Hussey stands and sank the vessel by the stem. She was later before a photo of Omaha beach. raised and resumed transporting troops. John Mac Lean of Pound Ridge, New York, who served with Company B of the 50th Signal Battalion, recalled hiscompany 'sentranceonJune 13 (D-Day+ 7) into the town of Ste. Mere Eglise, captured by paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division with considerable loss oflife. The incident was immortalized by the film "The Longest Day," which MacLean declared surpri singly accurate-for a Hollywood film. Leo Evans, who landed at Omaha beach on June 17 (D-Day +I 0), gave a blowby-blow description of hi s division's progress inland with maps and vivid, but chilling, recollections of the ferocious skirmishing among the hedgerows of Normandy . Leo 's aston ished wife said as they left: "You know , he has never told me or our children any of this." Joe Hussey of Harriman, New York, served aboard the American Liberty ship Ignatius Donnelly, chartered to the British Army. Early on 8 June (D-Day+2), the Donnelly delivered troops of the British 8th Army to Gold beach and then continued a shuttle serv ice between English ports and the Normandy beachhead. " Remembering D-Day" is open to the public in the Society 's ga llery at Charles Point from 9AM to 5PM daily Mon. to Thur. , 9AM to 9PM on Fridays, and 11 :30AM to 3:30PM on Sundays. KEVIN HA YOON
M embers Arthur Liss, on left, and Tom Kennedy, at right, man a table at the Intrepid Museum with NM HS President PeterStanford.
in seafaring to support ... and become members of the National Maritime Hi storical Society." We think ours is an important role: to educate the public and raise its awareness of our nation 's maritime heritage, and to preserve it where we can. Though we are a society of words and pictures, ideas and causes (and that is what often seems most apparent in the dail y buzz of the office), it is when those ideas and causes bring us into concerted action, making waves, that we are at our finest. Volunteers in the New York City area recently manned a table at the Intrepid Museum and the Navy Pier in Staten Island during Fleet Week. They were there SEA HISTORY 70, SUMMER 1994
to sell Sea History and spread the good word on NMHS. But they were also there to meet people: other volunteer members, new members, and whoever happened to be interested in what we all love. In our current membership drive, we have friends of the Society passing out magazines to visitors on square-riggers, aircraft carriers, ferries, tugs , a Liberty ship, and a variety of other vessels. We have employers giving gift memberships to their workers and clients. We have volunteers writing letters to their fellow
maritime alumni and naval veterans . In the generous words of NMHS Trustee George Lowery , "we are basically a group of volunteers from all walks of life who have a very strong interest in maritime history ... and a small paid staff that does most of the hard work." It is through its members that the Society exists and grows and will continue to do so-if 12,063 people have their say. BLAIR BENJAMIN *For information on gift memberships, call 1-800-221-NMHS
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