He was part of the Naval Combat Demolition Unit, ancestor of the Navy Seals. These units landed at Omaha Beach and Utah Beach in the early hours of D Day. Their role was to clean beach obstacles with the help of explosives.
Each men carried about twenty loads of 2 pounds of explosives and the detonators. On Omaha Beach there were 37 dead and 60 wounded On Utah Beach there were 6 dead and 11 wounded The units on Omaha Beach received the Presidential Unit Quote The units on Utah Beach they received the Navy Unit Commendation
Following the landing in Normandy Naval Combat Demolition Unit participated in the landing of Provence. For June 06, 1944 the naval combat demolition unit consisted of 13 men, 6 NCDUs, 3 US Navy men, the rest of the men were combat engineer...
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