The Gettysburg Times from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania • Page 25

THE GETTYSBURG TIMES. MONDAY, JUNE 6, 1994 War (From page 2) every vehicle carried a hand-held receiver linked to a series of navigational, satellites, which could pinpoint their position almost to the in a matter of seconds, even at night or in the middle of a sandstorm. Other changes can be grouped under the heading "information warfare." Dozens of satellites circle the globe, providing everything from wide-area surveillance and weather pictures to precise navigational data and instantaneous worldwide communications. During World War II, the theaters were linked by undersea cables and shortwave radio, far superior to what had existed in the past but nothing compared to the communications systems routinely used dur- ing the Gulf War. Air planners in the Pentagon and in Saudi Arabia used secure fax lines to send target photographs, then discussed on the secure STU- III phone which window they should aim the bomb at.

Fighter pilots over Iraq relied on targeting information datalinked to them via satellite from AWAC planes far behind them to shoot down dozens of Iraqi airplanes. Other changes not involving technology were equally important. American warfighting doctrine is now dominated by "jointness," the increasingly effective and seamless' integration, of our services' fighting capabilities. No Ipn- ger do the services go to war almost autonomously. Now, guided 1 by joint doctrine, they and integrate to a degree unheard of in World War II.

Another enormous difference is the degree of training and professionalism American forces demonstrate today. When we entered World War II, many of our troops had never seen a real tank, and had drilled with wooden props instead of real guns and vehicles. The Gulf War demonstrated the value of the long years of hard, realistic training our all-volunteer force put in. We spend large amounts of scarce resources to operate complex training bases such as the Air Forced Red Flag or the Army National Training Center, but the proof of their worth was in the low losses and superb performances of American soldiers, sailors and airmen. DALE DEARDORFF PRIVATE D.

DEARDORFF Deardorff remembers landing on Utah Beach By JOANN BARTLETT Times Staff Writer He wasn't there long. Just long enough to be wounded and win a Purple Heart. "I was a scared little infantryman," said Dale Ted" Deardorff of his World War II service and the landing on Utah Beach in France shortly after D-Day. The Gettysburg native said after landing on the beach, the troops of Co. 60th Infantry, 9th Division, marched inland about seven miles.

He was wounded in the foot June 14, 1944. He was 19 years old. Notice of his injury was printed.the The Gettysburg Times, July 17, 1944. "The medics were right there. They asked for my medical kit and bandaged me up," Deardorf said.

"I never knew it happened until I tried to stand up. I walked in seven miles; they carried me out seven miles." He said he believes he was near Gettysburg's 'sister city, Sainte- Mere-Eglise, one of the first French villages to be liberated by Allied troops, when he was wounded. Once carried out, he spent the night "right on the shore, before going to England. We could hear the bombings." He tried to describe the French countryside: "There were a lot of cattle in the hedgerows. I didn't see too much damage." From the beach, Deardorff was shipped to England.

While he was in the hospital there, he and other soldiers saw a special visitor Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the Allied Forces. "He was a very personable man. I was really impressed," said Dear- dorff.

"He told what we were there for what the mission was." Deardorff said he wrote to his parents here in Gettysburg about his injury. "My letter arrived in the morning; the telegram (announcing his injury) came in the afternoon. I've always been glad it happened that way," he said. He pulled a faded telegram addressed to his father, Earle R. Deardorff, 153 Carlisle from a stack of service-related items: "Regret to inform you your son Private Dale E.

Deardorff was on fourteen June slightly wounded in action in France period You will be advised as reports of condition are received." In his letter home telling of his wounds, Deardorff wrote: "Daddy, I thought I could be as lucky as you were in France but it seems I wasn't. Don't worry everything is all rightandit won't be long before I will be around again." Deardorff returned to the U.S. via a hospital ship. "We played pinochle all the way back," he said, referring to his shipmates. Once in New York City, the men received a warm welcome.

Deardorff was placed in a hospital there and it was October when he came home to Gettysburg --just in time for his mother's birthday. With his tour of duty behind him, Deardorff went to Gettysburg College and was employed for 35 years by Musslemans where he worked in the routing of traffic for the company. Honoring the veterans; Americans build 'Wall' CAEN, France (AP) Along with all the ceremonies honoring veterans on D-Day's 50th anniversary, Normandy authorities and an American group will pay more lasting tributes. The nonprofit Battle of Normandy Foundation is building a wall to list the names of as many as possible of the 5 million U.S. soldiers, sailors and airmen who served in World War II's European Theater.

Normandy will bestow a commemorative gold medal on veterans or, posthumously, family members, who request one and visit now through June 1995. The foundation, created to perpetuate the memory of the United States'rple in the war, is headed by Pierre Salinger, press secretary to President Kennedy, and Ret. Maj. Gen. Patrick H.

Brady, a Medal of Honor winner in Vietnam. Sections of the wall will be erected at the Memorial for Peace in Caen, Normandy's pre- mier, museum on the war, as names come in. Names, ranks and hometowns will be listed. "This wall is associated with triumph," Brady said. "It's not just for the dead, or the guy who carried a rifle.

Most of the names will be of living people." Veterans or their families or buddies must register their names to be inscribed. Each name costs $40, but the foundation is seeking corporate sponsors and insists no name will be left off because a vet can't pay. Normandy will bestow medals in special ceremonies to veterans who served in the region in 1944.Themedalsarefree,but veterans or their families must send in forms and come to Normandy to claim them. No medals will be sent by mail. "We want each veteran to have his name said loud and clear, in public thanks, by an elected representative of the people," said Paul Queney, the coordinator.

GETTYSBURG BOYS Wales was the scene of a reunion of Adams County boys prior to the D-Day invasion in 1944. Pictured are: (front, from left) Vernon L. Miller, Glenn A. Bream, Charles Gilbert, Fred Wright, Samuel Kessel; (middle row) Merle Hankey, Grayson Shealer, Harold Sharpe; (back row) Frank Photo courtesy of S. Charles Smith Linn, Ralph Cooley, Francis Shaner, S.

Charles Smith. Harikey and Smith were with 3937th Gasoline Supply Co. stationed at Burnham-On-Sea, England. The others were members of the 728th Ordnance stationed at Saundersfoot, Wales, the site of the reunion. Exercise Tiger a fateful prelude to Normandy By JEFFREY B.

ROTH Times Staff Writer It was supposed to be a secret rehearsal for the June 6, Normandy Invasion, but it turned into a tragedy. John White Sr. of Gettysburg, a retired school teacher, and Floyd Cook of Cashtown, both remember that fateful day, April 28, 1944, in the English Channel. It began on April 27, when two Royal Navy escorts accompanying eight Landing Ship, Tanks, LSTs, left southern England on a circular course through Lyme Bay to Slapton Sands, Devon, England. That was the distance to be traversed from Britain to Normandy.

Designated as Convoy T-4, the practice mission would end in the death of 749 Americans and the sealing of a secret that would last for 40 years. A number of Adams County natives were onboard the LSTs which were torpedoed by German Eboats: Raymond D. Ketterman, Morris M. Steinour James F. Diehl and George R.

Bixler, all of Gettysburg, now deceased; Maynard W. Day and Sterling S. Shue, of Upper Adams, also deceased; Fred F. Nagle, Fail-field, Robert T. Noel of McSherrystown; Floyd E.

Cook; Albert L. Rose, of York, merly of Gardners; and Paul J. Lerew of York, formerly of East Berlin, all served during Exercise Tiger, said White, who was a sergeant. All were members of the 3939 Quartermaster Company assigned to the First Engineer Special Brigade Amphibious, which later participated in the D-Day Invasion. The 3939 Quartermaster Company was originally composed of men from Pennsylvania who were trained at Fort Jackson, S.C., and Camp Forrest, Tenn.

They sailed for England in November of 1943, where they joined the First Engineer Brigade in March. Up to and including Exercise Tiger, the unit had participated in amphibious assault training. Through a series of coincidences and communication problems, the convoy was the target of a surprise attack. The first problem arose when a World War I British escort ship was damaged in a minor collision and ordered to remain in port. Replacement orders for the ship were sent to the wrong office, and the convoy was escorted by a sole, underarmed, slow ship.

When German ships were spotted in the area, radio communications to the convoy on the sighting went unshared. A total of nine E- boats crossed in front of the convoy, turned and attacked. About 2 a.m., April 28, two torpedoes were fired at LST 511. Both missed. About seven minutes later, two torpedoes targeted on LST 507 and struck the auxiliary engine room.

The ship was abandoned at 2:30 a.m., upon order of the captain. LfiT 531 was struck by torpedoes at 2:17 a.m., and sunk at 2:27 a.m., with the loss of 424 out of 496 soldiers. At 2:30 a.m., LST 496, which was attempting to avoid the E- boats, mistakenly opened fire on LST 511, wounding several. A torpedo struck the aft section of LST 289, killing hundreds. The ship did not sink.

According to declassified government documents obtained by White, officials also believe one or more submarines also attacked the convoy. White said that some men remember flares being fired around the time of the attack. "First heard were the (E-boat) motors which were initially reported to be an airplane, as it sounded much like one. The. sound, though loud, had a muffled quality.

The boat approached at about 40 knots on a course heading from port to starboard, passing directly in front of the ship no more than 15 yards," the report on White's ship, LST 511, states. "At this point none of our guns were able to depress sufficiently to fire on it. The boat then made two sharp turns, first 90 degrees to starboard, then back to the original course to port. The boat then disappeared from Only the wake and its gunfire were seen. It commenced firing when slightly off our port bow and continued until lost from sight to starboard.

From the size of the bullet holes noted on our ship, its guns must have approximated 30 caliber. Much of this fire hit around the stern and it may have been their intention to knock it out as much as possible," the report states. After being ordered to remain silent, Whitedid not.hear anything about Exercise Tiger until April 1984. He was watching the CBS News when Dan Rather began to recount the event. "We were aware of the fact that nothing was mentioned in the news at the time it happened, since it occurred just six weeks prior to the invasion and the allies were doing everything they could to make the Germans believe that the invasion would occur at several locations other than Normandy," White said.

'The Germans knew just about everything except the time and the place where the invasion would occur." White remembers it was a dark evening and the sea was calm. Onboard one of eight LSTs, White said that about 2 a.m., general quarters were sounded and men reported to stations. They heard gunfire. The next thing he heard was explosions. "Then we knew something was really wrong," White said.

"Men were brought into the hold they were We realized that we were in a bad situation. There were E-boats. The LSTs were attacked without any warnings." Al Rose recalled in a 1984 interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer that he heard a scraping sound during the attack. He later learned that the sound had been a torpedo scraping the hull. White said that the LSTs were flat-bottomed and did not sail low in the water.

White's LST commander ordered evasive The LST zigged, zagged, speeded up and slowed down to make it a difficult target. By about 5:30 a.m., the ship was out harm's way and that afternoon, the troops made a landing at Slapton Sands. On D-Day, the First Engineer Brigade landed on Utah Beach. Allied forces were met with less resistance at Utah Beach, compared to the fighting at Omaha Beach. White said that his unit eventually made its way through France, but did not go into Germany.

Cook remembers hearing a scrape and seeing shells fly over the ventilator shafts. "We were ordered to stay in the hold. All we could see was shots going across the ventilators," Cook said. "All of our trucks were shot After the attack, Cook and his unit went back to camp. He was also ordered not to mention the attack.

They stayed at camp until May 10. About two weeks later, the soldiers were briefed on Operation Overlord. A week before the invasion, they were placed back on LSTs, Cook said. Cook said that his unit was among the third wave to hit Utah Beach. From the LST, they were transferred to landing craft.

The craft could not make it to shore, so they had to walk to the beach in waist-length water. After the invasion, Cook transferred to an infantry unit. By the time he made it to Germany, the war was over. He re-enlisted and was discharged in 1948. In 1987, memorial was placed at Slapton Sands.

It cites the heavy losses encountered during Exercise Tiger. Last spring, Rose, White and three other company members returned to England and France to re-trace their World War II travels. LOCAL VETERANS Local veterans who survived the failed Exercise Tiger in April of 1944 are (from left) Albert L. Rose of Gardners, John White of Gettysburg, Floyd E. Cook of Cashtown and Paul S.

Lerew Jr. of East Berlin. Af Lnserphoto EXERCISE TIGER--This is an undated photo of the LST 289, with a shattered stern, just after making her way Darmouth Harbor, England, after the failed Exercise Ti- ger in 1944. The April 28,1944 catastrophe is still shrouded in D-Day's shadows, much to the anguish of the men who survived it and the families of those who did not..