Audio: Ronnie Taylor, Navy, Utah Beach, D-Day 1944

Ronnie A. Taylor, Navy and Combined Ops

At Utah Beach, D-Day Normandy, June 1944

Soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division wade ashore at Victor sector, Utah Beach,

on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Amphibious tanks are lined up at the water’s edge.

Photo credit - U.S. War Department/National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Introduction: One will find hundreds of audio files related to the experiences of men and women associated with many branches of Canadian Armed Forces and Canadian organizations (e.g., Red Cross, CWAC, etc.) at The Memory Project. Most audio files are accompanied by authentic WW2 photos and a written transcript.

Please link to an audio file at The Memory Project related to the activities of Ronnie Albert Taylor, Navy, that touch on his memories related to his war time experiences aboard an LCI(L) at Normandy, June 1944.

A portion of Ronnie Albert Taylor's transcript follows:

We landed at Utah Beach.... on the Cherbourg Peninsula. And we landed.... right around 7:00 in the morning. The Germans were on like a hillside and Omaha Beach was next to us. US soldiers were below where the Germans were, and the Germans were shooting down at the soldiers and landing craft. 

Our landing craft was a little to the left of Omaha, and we were hit by shrapnel on one side of the craft. Fortunately, no one was injured. We let the ramp down and tanks disembarked with the American troops on board. The tanks went around to the back of the hillside where the Germans were shooting down at our troops. The tanks got at the Germans. And that was a successful mission.... then after we discharged the tanks we pulled off the beaches and went to get more stuff. 

We kept on going in and out and there’d be cargo ships, big cargo ships coming and bringing stuff over and they put it on the landing craft. And the landing craft would take it into the beach. And then eventually, they built what they called Mulberry Harbour. And Mulberry Harbour was some cargo ships and a couple of old naval ships, and they sunk them there and made an imitation harbour. If it was bad weather or anything like that, they’d bring their landing craft in and they’d take it into Mulberry Harbour and they were protected from the weather then. And they’d load stuff onto the landing craft from the cargo ships and they could take it into the beaches then. But it was a really good experience.

Please link to Audio: Ed Rushbrook, Combined Ops, D-Day, June 1944