From: Sinclair Hart (slobak@bcn.net)
Date: Thu May 13 1999 - 18:24:34 PDT
Thanks for yor memories of crossing "La Manche" as the French call the "sleeve". I have not crossed in the air, on the surface, and via the Chunnell! Tim Merry wrote: > On 11 May 1999 Sinclair Hart wrote: > > >Was stationed near Crewe in 1944 > >and crossed the Channel on Christmas Eve that year, some hours (thank > >heaven) behind the Leopoldville, which was torpedoed near Cherbourg about > >6 PM that evening. > > Thank you Sinclair for coming up with a 'Memory'. Most members of this > worthy list seem to have momentarily lost their memories! > > But as a follow-on to Sinclair's a/q message, I thought I might tell you > what I remember about 'crossing the Channel' (or 'The Sleeve', as the > French prefer to call it): > > On 7 August 1944 we boarded our ship, a small Landing Craft Infantry - > LCI 217 , named "Queen Of Them All", also "Queenie". The names of the > places she had been were painted below the wheel-house, and included > Tunisia, Sicily, Italy and France (Normandy). Also to her credit were > two German aircraft shot down by her 20mm guns. She flew the Stars and > Stripes of the U.S., and was manned by some 30 United States officers > and men. We left Newhaven harbour at 6pm, the third in line of four > similar ships, two of which were British. Troops in the convoy included > men from the King's Royal Rifle Corps, the Rifle Brigade, the Royal > Engineers and the Welsh Border Regiment. > > We altered course several times, and passed a homward-bound merchant > convoy at about 9pm - some twelve ships, among them the "John E. Sweet" > and "Fort Muscauro" escorted by a British "J" Class destroyer and another > older type. We also saw to starboard a sloop and a motor gunboat. The > sea was as calm as a duck-pond. > > We slept soundly. The next morning at about 7am we passed through a lot > of shipping. There were 'hundreds' of balloons flying from merchant ships > near the coast. A harbour had been made around the beach at Arromanches > with large floating concrete blocks, end to end, and the inner harbour > was full of shipping, mostly LST's. After passing a "D" Class cruiser > (converted into an anti-aircraft ship) we disembarked and marched along > a pontoon bridge a good half-mile long. > > (In writing the above my memory was, I admit, jogged by reference to > the diary I kept in those days!) > > There must have been other members of this list in northern Europe > during those troubled times who can remember a thing or two? > > Tim