[U.S. COAST GUARD CAMERAMEN AT D-DAY INVASION]

e [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] June 9th 1944 Allied troops in Normandy have moved Inland the work of the US Navy and Coast Guard and the combined Allied sea forces has been done work not without a price in men and [Music] [Music] material it All Began many months early earlier in Chesapeake Bay and other sections of the American Coast untested sailors and soldiers learned the task of getting from ship to shore but that time the shore was a friendly one [Music] [Applause] then with part of their training finished they left the United States late in the winter and all through the spring the great convoys moved Eastward across the Atlantic aboard all the transports life was the same the troops relaxed and waited for the voyage to end [Music] [Music] all along the coasts of Great Britain that spring spring the training went on Navy and Coast Guard Landing barges practiced Landing operations day and [Music] night meanwhile the larger landing craft lsts and LC eyes carried on their Maneuvers learning to land at a given spot at a certain time [Music] through all the days of preparation Allied planes thousands of them continued to soften enemy defenses and Communications in Daily [Music] [Music] raids off the southern coast of England thousands of ships from all Allied nations are preparing for the invasion signal Navy and Coast Guard crews make last minute preparations [Music] when the K rans Come Aboard everyone knows that D day is Drawing [Music] Near somewhere in Southern England troops embark on lcvps to be fed to the waiting transports offshore [Music] la [Music] Joan pip the lcis are loaded the next time these men step ashore will be on an enemy Beach there's only a little time left to [Music] relax and the bombing attacks of the Air Force are intensified now the raids are continuous [Music] at ports of embarcation the troops prepare themselves for their greatest battle a Coast Guard officer briefs his men and all along the coast Sailors receive their final instructions at last the ships leave the coastal Waters and move out into the channel the slow lsts loaded with heavy equipment the transports loaded with men [Applause] fast warships screen the mighty Invasion Fleet from enemy Raiders at 15:30 a coast guard floella of lcis leaves with Engineers medical Corman and infantry DayDay approaches and the ships are in their assigned positions or some of them like the co Co guard manned transport Chase it is the fourth invasion in European Waters the only planes overhead are friendly from the 83t Coast Guard rescue boats to the Navy's powerful battle wagons The Invasion Fleet is moving towards France and Below decks officers study the maps that Mark The Invasion Beach heads on the coast of Normandy he [Music] all I [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] some of the landing barges are stopped by concrete obstacles built far out in the Water by the enemy offshore the larger landing craft approached the beach heads slowly [Music] aboard the lcis the troops prepare to land the beach is still empty and the crossfire of German guns still rakes the shore [Music] out of enemy firing range the lsts wait to move in until the beaches are [Music] cleared the arrival of motorized equipment marks the end of the first phase of the landing the lcis their first loads of men now on the beaches go out to the transports to furry more troops in [Music] Shore still waiting Beyond gun range the lsts unload supplies on smaller lcts heavier equipment is transferred to Giant Rhino fairies flat bottomed charges that will land it ashore and reinforcements arrive thousands of men [Applause] defeated and disarmed the first German soldiers captured in France wait until someone has time to evacuate [Music] them out on the channel the rescue boats of the Coast Guard are looking for survivors and aiding damaged vessels and the hospital ships are waiting for the [Music] wounded from a damaged Coast Guard LCI a wounded man is transferred to another ship the life-saving blood plasma goes with him another Coast Guard man LCI badly crippled could not reach the shore and its wounded are removed [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the beach is firmly in Allied hands now and the vast extent of the operation is visible silent evidence of the fierce battle is apparent everywhere but in a few days many of the damaged chips will be afloat again [Music] now more and more troops move Inland to push the enemy [Music] back and the lsts land their caros on the beach barges built especially for the Normandy operations are left on the shore to be unloaded during the daytime there are only Allied planes in the air but at night German bombers harass the beach head and drop mines [Music] offshore out of sunken block ships artificial Harbors have been built until a port is won from the the enemy these must handle all Allied Shipping bad weather came after the fighting on the beaches was over [Music] the heavy storm left a trail of damaged ships once again The Landing barges moved out into the channel this time loaded with German [Music] prisoners in England prisoners board a coast guard transport and ships which have carried thousands of American soldiers overseas now return Westward with a different cargo with men who were beaten and captured in Normandy [Music] [Applause] [Music]