Toledo Casualties on D-Day June 6, 1944

 

They waited at airfields and ports all over southern England. Eisenhower stated that the invasion would be a great crusade to rid the world of Nazi tyranny. They had a multitude of reasons for being there: pride, duty, the draft, old scores to settle, old debts to repay, love of country. Their mission was clear, the men were well trained and well equipped to complete their mission of cracking open the forward defenses of Festung Europa. They came from every creed and every walk of life, from every big city and small town across the nation. The earnest hopes and dreams and prayers of their loved ones back home echoed through the cosmos but at the tip of the spear, the men wrestled with the awful questions of doubts of how they would react to combat.

Tanks of Co. A, 741st Tank Battalion on June 4, 1944; two days later these men would storm Omaha Beach. Staff Sergeant Walter J. Skiba of Toledo would earn the Silver Star but lose his life trying to batter down the German defenses.

Most of them had never heard a rifle fired in anger. How would they react to the shelling, the machine gun fire, the mines and grenades and strafing and snafus and a million other things that would happen on that beach at dawn? Would they drown or be shot down before they even hit the beach? Would they be able to summon the courage to cross the shingle and climb the slope, and sink their bayonets into their enemy? How would they react to the carnage inflicted by flamethrowers, bombs, 16-inch naval shells, bangalore torpedoes? Would they crack up, or would they overcome it? None of them knew; history tells us the answer but 75 years ago today, for the average GI, it hung in the balance, it all hung in the balance.

          For some of the men, it would be remembered as the most tremendous and awe-inspiring experience of their lives. They would be marked and honored for the rest of their lives as being present at “D-Day.” For some of them, it marked the end of their earthly journey.  As we go about the humdrum tasks of our lives on what would otherwise be an ordinary Tuesday, let's remember for a moment that the freedoms we enjoy were bought at a high price by thousands of men and women whom we'll never know.

          They say that a candle burns brightest just before it goes out, and that is an apt analogy for Toledoan Walter Skiba. A staff sergeant and tank commander in Company A, 741st Tank Battalion, Skiba would be posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his heroism on Sector Easy Red that morning.

Here's his story:

          Staff Sergeant Walter J. Skiba lost his life while engaged in a desperate battle on sector Easy Red near draw E-1 (St. Laurent) during the morning assault on Omaha beach. Skiba served as a platoon commander during the attack and was fortunate in that he was commanding a standard M4 Sherman as an LCT landed him directly on the beach; many of the specialized DD-Shermans were launched far from shore and sank in the choppy waters of the Channel, including one tank which took the life of fellow Toledoan Joseph Kaminesky.

          The battalion after action report gives the mission and plan for the attack. “Company A had the mission of landing astride the beaches of EASY RED and FOX GREEN on beach Omaha at H-Hour to support with cannon and machine gun fire the assault of the troops on this beach. Company A was shipped on LCTs, its tanks having been waterproofed for wading. The LCTs were to beach at intervals in order to permit the tanks to disembark in reasonably shallow water and seek firing positions hull down in the water. During the initial phases of the assault, the beach area was under heavy artillery, mortar, and machine gun fire. The assault battalions of the 16th RGT were holding approximately 20 yards of beachhead at low tide and made no progress forward due to the intense fire.”

Omaha Beach, Easy Red Sector

          An additional complication arose when the radios malfunctioned; battalion headquarters tried to maintain control of the tanks by sending runners to each individual tank to direct their fire. “The tanks continued to fire on targets of opportunity during the infiltration of the infantry which was moving directly forward making an assault on the bluff behind the beach; the infantry was forced to make their direct approach under the protecting fire of tank weapons.” Skiba started to engage a particularly tough target known as WN65; this was a concrete pillbox located adjacent to the E-1 draw that had a perfect field of fire, inflicting very heavy casualties on the invading troops. “If the Americans were to take the draw and truly begin their inland advance, the pillbox had to be neutralized,” wrote historian John McManus. “It began to attract the fire of nearly every American weapon with a feasible shot.”

          Corporal Steven Hoffer was in the tank with Skiba and described their bitter fight to blast through the German defenses. “From our defiladed position behind the shingle, we fired on several machine gun nests from which fire was visible, then picked up a log emplacement located at the extreme top of the hill on our right and fired several rounds of 75mm. A captain from the 16th Infantry came to the tank and directed fire on a concealed 88mm gun. The captain also directed fire on two other targets which were knocked out and the infantry was then able to advance.”

Shoulder Patch of the 741st Tank Battalion

Skiba's Silver Star citation described what happened next: “With complete disregard for his personal safety, Sergeant Skiba dismounted from his tank on four occasions and remained exposed to enemy machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire in order to contact the infantry which he was supporting to determine targets upon which their desired him to fire. Upon mounting his tank the fourth time, Sergeant Skiba was killed my enemy mortar fire.” Hoffer remembered that Skiba was killed almost instantly at about 1045, and that the crew pulled his body from the turret and called the medics to his aid.

741st Tank Battalion tanks on Easy Red Sector of Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944

          Following Skiba's death, battalion S-3 Capt. William King took command of the tank and directed it in a successful attack on Exit E-3. “By his tenacity in accomplishing his mission, regardless of enemy fire, Sergeant Skiba not only contributed much toward reducing the many enemy emplacements, but so inspired his platoon that they carried on the work with increased fervor after his death, thus enabling the infantry to move across the beach toward objectives further inland.”

For his actions on D-Day, Sergeant Skiba was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and Presidential Unit Citation. His body was buried in France immediately after the battle, but his family requested that his body be returned home after the war. This was done and funeral ceremonies were held in his honor at St. Hedwig's Catholic Church on December 20, 1947, and Sergeant Skiba was laid to rest in Calvary Cemetery in Toledo on the same day.

 

 

 

Walter Skiba was not the only Toledoan who lost his life during D-Day. Here are a few of their stories:

Second Lieutenant Frank N. Hancock

863th Bomb Squadron, 493rd Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force

Base: Debach Field, Suffolk, England

Co-pilot of B-24J-165-CO 44-40471 “No Love No Nothin”

Killed in mid-air collision over English Channel June 6, 1944

Second Lieutenant Frank N. Hancock flew his first operational mission on June 6, 1944 as the 493rd Bomb Group made its combat debut in support of the D-Day landings. Lt. Hancock was flying as co-pilot aboard a B-24J named “No Love No Nothin” piloted by Captain Jack Cooper. The 36 bombers of the group were assigned targets in Lisieux, France but poor weather prevented the planes from dropping their payloads on the target. The group did not jettison their bomb loads but carried them back towards their base in England.

          During that return flight, at 11,000 feet and 1028 GMT, the right wing of Hancock's bomber collided with the tail of a B-24J from the 862nd Bomb Squadron (44-94789 “Moby Dick”), and disintegrated in mid-air, the wreckage of both bombers crashing into the English Channel. Nine out of the ten members of Hancock's crew died in the crash, and no remains were ever recovered.

In a macabre aftermath, the infamous German propagandist Lord Haw Haw made light of the tragedy suffered by Hancock and his crew on his evening broadcast to England by quipping that the Third Reich had little to fear from the new bomb group which seemed more proficient at destroying itself than in dropping bombs on targets.

Lt. Hancock is memorialized on the tablets of the missing at Brittany American Cemetery at St. James, France, and on the Toledo Civic Memorial.

 

B-24 Liberator from the 493rd Bomb Group

Second Lieutenant John A. Marisay

93rd Squadron, 439th Troop Carrier Group, 9th Air Force

Base: Upottery Field, Devonshire, England

Navigator of C-47A 42-100876

Killed in action by enemy AA fire near Le'Isle Marie, France

Second Lieutenant John A. Marisay lost his life heroically supporting the initial assault staged by 101st Airborne Division in the early morning hours of D-Day. Lt. Marisay served as a navigator aboard a C-47 piloted by Second Lt. Marvin F. Muir of Elkhart, Indiana. The plane was part of the 93rd Troop Carrier Squadron and had been assigned to deliver a stick of 18 paratroopers from the (either HQ Co. or Dog Company-UNSURE), 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division to their drop zone in France. The stick was designated Chalk 58/Serial 12 of Mission Albany and was slated to hit Drop Zone C located one mile west of Ste. Maire Dumont shortly after 1 A.M. local time.

C-47A from the 439th Troop Carrier Group

Marisay's craft took off from Uppottery Field around 10:30 the night of June 5th, maneuvered into formation, and set off over the English Channel at 500 feet. As the formation of 81 planes crossed over the French coast, it came under intense German anti-aircraft fire. “While approaching the DZ in Normandy at about 0114 hours, Lt. Muir's aeroplane was hit by anti-aircraft fire near the companionway (aft of the flight deck) and almost immediately filled with flames. The aeroplane wavered and started to pull up straight as if the pilot was trying to get above formation and give his paratroopers and crew if possible an opportunity to jump,” it was stated in an after-action report. “Then it looked as though it stalled and fell first on the left wing, and then on the right.” The port engine ablaze, the C-47 plunged to earth at 150 mph as 17 of the 18 paratroopers exited the aircraft.  None of the crew members made it out, and the C-47 crashed and burned near Le'Isle Marie, France, a few miles southeast of St. Mere Eglise. Later that day, troopers photographed the scorched wreckage. Lt. Muir received the Distinguished Service Cross in honor of his and his crew's heroic sacrifice.

Wreckage of Marisay's C-47

As navigator, Lt. Marisay was seated at a table located on a bulkhead behind the flight deck, below the astrodome located above the yellow D8 on this photo. Based on the report quoted above, it is likely that he was hit directly by the anti-aircraft fire that brought down the ship.

The 439th T.C.G. was assigned to carry the entire 2nd Battalion, 506th P.I.R. to Normandy which included three companies (Cos. Dog, Easy, and Fox) as well as a headquarters company. The paratroopers were assigned in groups of 15-18 men per plane, each group being called a stick. The chalk number referred to at the beginning of this sketch was an actual chalked number marked on the fuselage of the plane near the loading door, which indicated which 'stick' was assigned to which plane.

Lt. Marisay and the crew of his plane are memorialized on the monument in the French town of Picauville shown below, on the Upottery Field Roll of Honor commemorative plaque and on the walls of the Toledo Civic Memorial. It is unknown whether Lt. Marisay's remains were ever recovered.

 

Picauville Monument with engine from Marisay's C-47.

 

Sergeant Charles Robert Kittle

84th Squadron, 437th Troop Carrier Group, 9th Air Force                 

Base: Ramsbury Field, Wiltshire, England

Radio Operator on C-47A-70-DL 42-100803

Missing in action June 6, 1944 near Rocheville, France   

 

Sergeant Charles Robert Kittle was lost in action in the early hours of D-Day while flying as the radio operator for a C-47 tasked with delivering an artillery piece for the 82nd Airborne Division to the battlefield. As a member of the 437th Troop Carrier Group, Kittle was assigned to a C-47 piloted by First Lieutenant Jack A. Lawson and was stationed at Ramsbury Field in England prior to D-Day. The troop carrier group was assigned to Mission Detroit, and Kittle's aircraft was assigned to Serial 28 which was tasked with towing in fifty two gliders that carried the artillery and support staff of the 82nd Airborne. The specific glider that Kittle's aircraft towed was a Waco CG-4A 43-27453 that was piloted by a soldier named Larkin.

C-47A from the 437th Troop Carrier Group

          Charles Kittle's mission on D-Day was to release this glider carrying an artillery piece and three artillerymen from the 82nd Airborne Division Artillery on Drop Zone O which was located a few miles to the northwest of Saint-Mere Eglise. This village was selected as a strategic point as it was in the rear of Utah beach.

          The fifty-two C-47s departed Ramsbury Field in the early hours of D-Day, maneuvered into formation, and set course for Normandy, Lawson's C-47 being the last plane in formation. Shortly before 4 A.M., the group reached the initial point called “Peoria” and turned east towards their objective. The missing air crew report states that Kittle's aircraft was seen in formation near the coast of France when the group entered a dense bank of clouds but was never seen again. “I observed as we reached the coast of France that Lt. Lawson was still flying formation with us just off our right wing,” remembered First Lt. David A. Pilon. “We let down to the overcast and as we came out, Lt. Lawson was missing from the formation.”   Neither the C-47 nor any remains of the crew were ever found. After action reports from the 82nd Airborne archives indicate that the glider was successfully released but was destroyed upon landing. The entire crew of the glider survived the crash and the artillery piece was still serviceable.

          Sergeant Kittle was declared missing shortly after the D-Day mission and was presumed dead when no remains were recovered within one year afterwards. Sergeant Kittle is memorialized by a stone in Arlington National Cemetery erected in 1961.    

 

Corporal Carl Joseph

HQ Co., 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division

Killed in action June 6, 1944 in Normandy, France

Awarded the Bronze Star

Buried at Plot D, Row 13, Grave 57 at Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupre, Belgium

 

Corporal Carl Joseph, Headquarters Co., 505th P.I.R., 82nd Airborne Division
Killed in action June 6, 1944

Private Joseph Kaminesky

Company B, 741st Tank Battalion

Killed in action June 6, 1944 at Omaha Beach, Normandy France

Memorial stone erected at Calvary Cemetery in Toledo in 1948.

 

Private Jack W. Runkel

502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

Killed in action June 6, 1944 in Normandy, France