D-Day and After on the 83512
In His Own Words, Edward Biernacki, GM 3c
I boarded the 83512 in 1943 at Wheeler Shipyard on Staten Island, NY where it
was built. The crew members came from Manhattan Beach Training Station. All
the guys had attended a training school. I attended Seamanship school and
later Gunners mate school. My rate was Gunner's Mate third class. Our first
trip was to the USCG Academy, New London, CT where the boat's compass was
calibrated. I recall the weather was cold and the super structure was covered
with ice when we reached port.
We then received orders to go to Trinidad. The first night of our trip we tied
up at Ocean City, NJ. During the night our Skipper, Donald Banks, received
orders to return to Staten Island, NY. There we received orders to deliver our
boat to a cargo ship anchored in New York Harbor and then report to Ellis
Island Receiving Station for further orders. It was Easter Sunday, 1944, when
we boarded the Ellis Island Ferry which took the crew to the liberty ship
ELISA WHEELOCK which joined a 72 ship convoy that carried us across the
Atlantic to Cardiff ,Wales. Our home port was the English town named Poole
located on the English Channel. The Rescue Flotilla One was stationed there.
We were one of the 60 boats that comprised the flotilla. We removed all the
boat's ordnance except the 20 mm antiaircraft gun in preparation for sea
rescue duty. We changed the number of our boat from 83512 to 57. We also
stenciled a white four foot star on our deck as all the Allied vessels did
which helped the airmen to identify us as friendly.
On June 5, 1944 we were informed by our skipper that the invasion of Normandy
was to begin tomorrow, June 6, 1944. Earlier other boats in our flotilla that
were scheduled to be in the initial attack left on June 5, to join the
invading convoy which was to arrive at the beach just before day break. We
left for our assigned station the night of June 6,1944 and arrived in Normandy
on June 7, 1944.
We reported to headquarters when we were on station at OMAHA EASY White on
June 7,1944, our initial orders were go to a Polish Navy Destroyer that was
damaged by a magnetic mine. We were to pick up five dead sailors in weighted
canvas body bags and bury them at sea. There was a Polish honor guard that
accompanied their dead shipmates. Then we went to a British landing craft and
picked up a British chaplain. We then headed for the Atlantic to an area
designated on the chart and after an allotted time stopped the boat where the
proper ceremony was performed as the crews from both nations remained at
attention for each honored hero as he was committed to the deep. We then
washed the blood off the fantail and returned our guests to their stations.
On jJune 10, 1944, 83512(57) Pulled a navigator of a B-17 out of the
channel.
The fall of 1944 our flotilla was disbanded.
After completing our invasion duties, our skipper was transferred and Harold
Russell, Chief Petty Officer, became the new skipper. Russ was a career Coasty
while the others were reservists for the duration of the war. Many were
requested to remain on the crew by the chief but refused the offer and chose to
return to the States. According to naval records the final location of the 83512
is unknown; the 57 and several other 83's were sent to the French ports of
Cherbourg and Le Harve to maintain order and continuous communications among the
various convoy vessels to ensure the expeditious movement of the most urgent
materiel. After these ports were cleaned of mines by the Navies and the ships
could enter these ports, our boat was assigned to patrol the Scene River all the
way to Paris. We and the other crews received orders to disband and deliver a
number of 83 footers to various UK ports for shipment to USA. We returned to
Poole by train. Christmas Eve 1944 we left Poole for Southampton where we
boarded a Coast Guard personnel carrier USS Richardson along with thousands of
GI's.
Back in the USA we found ourselves once again assigned to Ellis Island Receiving
Station.
After some R&R we returned to pick up an 83 footer at Pelham Bay in the
Bronx, NY and deliver it to the Little Creek Amphibious Base near Norfolk, VA.
There we were kept busy by running patrols off the coast of Va. until we were
put on trains for California. We were billeted in a former Japanese School house
in San Padro, CA until August 1945. When Truman dropped the A-Bomb we were sent
home.
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PS: Here is an item that may be of interest to the sailors. Bill Lewis, was a
MM1/C on our boat. He was a fun guy and a great addition to our crew . He was a
real pro at his job. The reason I mention the late Bill Lewis is that he was one
of the five survivors of the crew of the USCG Cutter Alexander Hamilton which
was the first US military vessel torpedoed and sunk by a German U-Boat during WW
II.
