| Subject: Re: Looking for LST 492 Info (Gus "Pops" Esto) |
Author:
patti daum
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Date Posted: 08:49:27 11/21/02 Thu
In reply to:
Nick Demilio
's message, "Looking for LST 492 Info (Gus "Pops" Esto)" on 16:22:12 11/19/02 Tue
>My father was on LST 492. His service record lists "ABATU Lido Beach, USS LST 492, USN Fowey Cornwall," and as I understand it, this was the LST that placed them on Omaha Beach. They trained out of Fowey Cornwll in the UK. According to my Dad, they were with the convoy training for D-Day when a German U-Boat attacked one of the ships. They got a call to immediately scatter. About five years ago or more, under FOIA the government declassified information about this attack where one of the convoy members was sunk (?). Is this what you are asking about? Dad said that they did not know any other ship was sunk and complained that the British ships who were acting as escort ran like rats from a sinking ship, leaving their LSTs exposed for attack. Dad said that some old freighter? that had been converted by the Polish to serve as a battleship came to assist when the British were running scared. Perhaps based on this incident, he always respected the Polish and had almost nothing good to say about the "Limeys."
As to the actual landing on D-Day, Dad described the mood of the men on ship as one of stark but resigned terror. They had been given instructions in a 1, 2, 3, 4 format as to what they were to do when they landed on shore. For his own sanity, Dad just kept repeating those steps to himself on the ride to the beach. He commented that when he actually got to the beach, the instructions went right out the door and all he did was try to stay alive. He once remarked that he waded into shore in a sea that had been turned red by the blood of those who had been cut down. He obtained ammunition from those who had fallen because he said that they did not have enough ammunition to give to all of those destined to hit the shore that day. They told him that the expected casualty rate for the first wave was (either in the high 80 to low 90 % range) (I cannot remember the exact percentage he told me). As I understand it, he was not in the first wave but in the second or third wave on D-Day, day one. Dad also talked in general terms about being in the UK, hated the food etc... I don't know if this helps or not. I have tried myself to do some research without much success. I also am unsure of your abbreviations, eg. "ETO" Just goes to show you my lack of knowledge.
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