"Utah" and "Omaha" beaches - Normandy
The above picture is a restored B&W drawing by Sgt. John Scott - Yank Staff Artist , from the April 20 , 1945 edition of Yank ( British edition ) that James J. McKeever saved while in WWII. The Diver was on salvage duty clearing the harbor in Cherbourg , France following D-day. The caption says: An American Navy slavage ship - the USS Diver - moored to the hull of a blockship that the nazis had sunk in the harbor to obstruct the entrance to the Normandie and Transatlantic quays. On the left is an American built British minesweeper whose dangling electrical impulse cable has just exploded a mine a hundred yards to the right.
Archive photos of the USS Diver at Cherbourg, October 1945. Click on the above for more detailed views and zoom in to see the crew aboard.
This
is another drawing by Sgt. John Scott from same edition of Yank about
Cherbourg. This was a French fishing boat that the crew of the USS Diver
had acquired for their work. The caption says : From an old French fishing
boat which had been hastily reconditioned, U.S. Navy divers lower themselves
into the mined waters of the harbor to begin lifting operations on a sunken
german blockship.
USS Diver crew at Cherbourg
(left to right) Platt , A.E. Libbra , R.F. Wilson , S.B. Murphy
USS Diver crew at Le Havre
R.F. Wilson (left) and W.E. Syrjala
USS Diver crew at Omaha beach
F.X. McCall (left) and Judge (right)
This is another restored drawing by Sgt. John Scott from same edition of Yank about Cherbourg. The caption says :
Some of the miles of new dock space created by the engineers in a few weeks in an area once occupied by nazi 88 anti-aircraft guns and pillboxes. Concrete sides of the quay sloped outward at the bottom and steel arms bristled with barbed wire at the top. The engineers provided a vast wharf area by driving in piling and building out the dock from the edge of the existing concrete. Here, cranes are being erected and a railroad track is being laid.
This is another restored drawing by Sgt. John Scott from same edition of Yank about Cherbourg. The caption says :
The Digue Homet - A section forming an arm of the break water of the harbor of Cherbourg. There wasn't any landing quay here when the engineers started, so they built timber docks which furnished several more miles of unloading space which ships packed with supplies were then able to dock, and two of them can be seen already berthed at the first completed sections in the background. The Yanks set up that multiple 50 machinegun in the right foreground.