Father's Day and D-Day have now gone by the board and for obvious reasons thoughts of my father have been running through my brain. The solitude of a bike ride helped stoke a lot of those thoughts. As it turned out, that bike ride took me through a couple of local communities. I was riding on what was once a railroad track that stretched through parts of Essex County in Massachusetts. My ride took me into Danvers and Topsfield. However, the interesting part to me and to this story was to find out that this trail continues into Georgetown.
Georgetown, just the mention of the word brings back bundles of memories from my youth. As a kid, my family had a summer camp in Georgetown. My old man, remember I mentioned him earlier, built this camp. It was one of his big achievements. It was a simple A frame structure sitting on cinder blocks at the corner of an intersection in a community of other summer camps. Oh, but it was way more than just that.
We have an old shoe box full of pictures with a handfull of black and whites showing Dad with a couple of buddies building this camp. This was right around the time I showed up on this planet, some of my very first memories involve the sound hammers and saws as this place took shape. I can remember when the place was at least ready to move some furniture in. The first refrigerator had no electricity, we had to bring a big block of ice with us and stuck it in the ice box on top. We had an old couch, a couple of easy chairs, some beds and finally a stove powered by propane. But, believe me, this place was like heaven.
The camp was in walking distance to a little beach on Rock Pond. Right next to the beach was a little, and I mean small, country store. It was just the spot for some penny candy and a bottle of Moxie. In the lot next to our camp was The Clubhouse. See, all the camp owners in the area had formed an association. Dues for the association went towards the upkeep of the beach and the roads with this clubhouse being a meeting place. But, The Clubhouse was more than that, they had bean suppers on Friday nights, they had dances for the adults on Saturday night and they had games for the kids.
Taking the trip to downtown Georgetown was full of memories, as well. At that time, downtown Georgetown was like being in Mayberry, RFD. On Sundays, we would take the trip to go to church, Ah, but after church, we got to go to the drugstore. This was an old Rexall drugstore with a fountain. Dad would let us sit at the counter and order up a rasberry lime rickey while he picked up the Sunday paper. Oh, and by the way, their comic book selection was to die for. I got one dime on Sunday, my choice had to be a good one. I would usually walk away with the latest copy of "Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos".
Those summers in Georgetown were perfect. Many times we shared weekend there with the Smith family. My father and "Smitty" were best buds. Smitty helped put the camp together. When the Smith family came with us, me and my partner in mischief, Dottie Smith, would spend hours on the beach, explore the surrounding woods, read comic books, pretend to be cowboys fighting indians or just lie in bed listening to the sounds of the big bands being played at the dance nextdoor at the Clubhouse. Yeah, summer time in Georgetown, you couldn't get any better than that.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Monday, June 10, 2019
D-Day plus 4
So, we have just had the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. I always try to acknowledge the occasion, remembering the day in some little way not only because of the history of the event, but also as a little tip of the hat to may old man. My father served in the Army during World War II. However, he didn't go over to the beaches of Normandy on that fateful day. He was assigned to the 4th Armored Division which was attached to General Patton's 3rd Army. It was pretty much accepted at the time, and mostly by the Germans, that Patton would be the one to lead the invasion of Europe. Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower was banking on that theory.
Eisenhower played into the German's thinking and he used Patton as a decoy. He had Patton set up his command in an area across the English Channel from where conventional wisdom dictated the invasion was suppose to happen. You might say Ike was trying to create fake news. The Germans had a lot of spies in England and were trying to get information as to when and where the much anticipated invasion was going to occur. So, the Allies were trying to feed information to these spies that would keep the real plans for D-Day secret. A big part of the fake info was creating a fake build up for the invasion. In a small way, Dad was part of this fake army.
I know there were many veterans of the war who felt it hard to talk about their experiences during that time. Yet, my father opened up quite a bit about what he lived through. Many Sunday afternoons as we waited for Mom to finish cooking that all important Sunday dinner, Dad would sit and tell us stories about his time overseas. Hell, by the time I was out of highschool I felt like I had lived through the war myself. I remember those days sitting and listening to my father's stories. I remember as each June 6th started to come around again and how he would relate what was happening leading up to that June in 1944. As far as he and the rest of the troops in his unit were concerned they would definately be involved in the "Big One".
All around the camp where he was based in England there was a major amount of activity. Hundreds of trucks, tanks and jeeps drove around the base throughout the day and night. New equipment was delivered daily, including inflatable tanks and aircraft. The rumor was that the blown-up vehicles were to make it appear that Patton's army was much bigger than reality. This was true in a sense, however the big reason was to convince any snooping Huns that this was the true build-up for D-Day. My father and the rest of his unit had no idea they would be left behind when that Allied armada set sail for the shores of France.
Dad and the rest of the 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion learned of the events of June 6th 1944 much like everyone back in the US of A, from the radio broadcasts. After the Longest Day unfolded, the 704th like other units still left in England went on high alert. Once they got over the surprise of not being part of the 1st wave, they prepared for what was to come. The 704th and the rest of the 4th Armored Division headed south to Southhampton England. They shipped out on July 11th and landed on Utah Beach the next day. They moved up to the frontlines almost immediately and joining other forces they started the Breakout. Even though the D-Day invasion was beyond huge it still wasn't a done deal that war was won. There was plenty of fighting left to do.
As a kid, I often wondered about the stories my father told us. Later in life I read a book by Ken Follet, "The Eye of the Needle" and watched several documentaries detailing the story of the "fake army" and they told of the inflatable tanks with other aspects of the build-up. Also, a member of the same company my old man was in kept a diary of the unit's movements through France and into Germany. The author's name was Norman Macomber and I remember my Dad mentioning him several times. One day in the early eighties, Dad received a package in the mail, it was a bound copy of Macomber's diary. He had had it printed and copied, then sent to the surviving members of "C" Company. I have read and reread that diary many times. I no longer have to wonder about my father's stories - they're all in there.
Eisenhower played into the German's thinking and he used Patton as a decoy. He had Patton set up his command in an area across the English Channel from where conventional wisdom dictated the invasion was suppose to happen. You might say Ike was trying to create fake news. The Germans had a lot of spies in England and were trying to get information as to when and where the much anticipated invasion was going to occur. So, the Allies were trying to feed information to these spies that would keep the real plans for D-Day secret. A big part of the fake info was creating a fake build up for the invasion. In a small way, Dad was part of this fake army.
I know there were many veterans of the war who felt it hard to talk about their experiences during that time. Yet, my father opened up quite a bit about what he lived through. Many Sunday afternoons as we waited for Mom to finish cooking that all important Sunday dinner, Dad would sit and tell us stories about his time overseas. Hell, by the time I was out of highschool I felt like I had lived through the war myself. I remember those days sitting and listening to my father's stories. I remember as each June 6th started to come around again and how he would relate what was happening leading up to that June in 1944. As far as he and the rest of the troops in his unit were concerned they would definately be involved in the "Big One".
All around the camp where he was based in England there was a major amount of activity. Hundreds of trucks, tanks and jeeps drove around the base throughout the day and night. New equipment was delivered daily, including inflatable tanks and aircraft. The rumor was that the blown-up vehicles were to make it appear that Patton's army was much bigger than reality. This was true in a sense, however the big reason was to convince any snooping Huns that this was the true build-up for D-Day. My father and the rest of his unit had no idea they would be left behind when that Allied armada set sail for the shores of France.
Dad and the rest of the 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion learned of the events of June 6th 1944 much like everyone back in the US of A, from the radio broadcasts. After the Longest Day unfolded, the 704th like other units still left in England went on high alert. Once they got over the surprise of not being part of the 1st wave, they prepared for what was to come. The 704th and the rest of the 4th Armored Division headed south to Southhampton England. They shipped out on July 11th and landed on Utah Beach the next day. They moved up to the frontlines almost immediately and joining other forces they started the Breakout. Even though the D-Day invasion was beyond huge it still wasn't a done deal that war was won. There was plenty of fighting left to do.
As a kid, I often wondered about the stories my father told us. Later in life I read a book by Ken Follet, "The Eye of the Needle" and watched several documentaries detailing the story of the "fake army" and they told of the inflatable tanks with other aspects of the build-up. Also, a member of the same company my old man was in kept a diary of the unit's movements through France and into Germany. The author's name was Norman Macomber and I remember my Dad mentioning him several times. One day in the early eighties, Dad received a package in the mail, it was a bound copy of Macomber's diary. He had had it printed and copied, then sent to the surviving members of "C" Company. I have read and reread that diary many times. I no longer have to wonder about my father's stories - they're all in there.
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