James T. Lingg - WWII
Page 8 - Preparing for the Invasion

On about the 31^st of May, I was on guard duty and received notice the First Sergeant wanted to see me. He sent a guard out to relieve me. I was walking the perimeter during that period. When I got to the First Sergeant, he said I was on advance party for the 3^rd Platoon to go aboard an LCI (Landing Craft Infantry). Maybe we were going to practice some landings.

Without realizing what I was getting into, I packed everything I had, boarded a truck, rode down to the Plymouth area and got on the LCI. The LCIs were tied side by side. There were three to a landing and ours was the third one out so we had to walk across the decks of two of them to get to ours.

There were 5 or 6 of us sent. We reported to the senior member aboard the LCI. He assigned us the different areas we would put our Platoons in, then we were allowed to join their crew and eat their rations until the main body showed up two or three days later. I think our main body arrived about the 3^rd of June. We got everybody aboard the ship and immediately our Navy rations stopped and we went back to eating the "C" and "K" rations whether we liked it or not.

I should take a little time and mention the difference between types of rations we had. In all of these we had either breakfast, dinner or supper (BDS).

"C-Rations": one can is a "wet can" and one is a "dry pack". The wet can was about 5" tall and approximately 2" in diameter. It was not a big can but still there was a lot of food packed in it - beans, stew or hash, in the early days. The dry pack had crackers, a small piece of candy, usually the candy "Chuckles", sugar, dry coffee and that was about it. It's been a long time ago and I don't really remember what all I did eat out of them. A lot of times we got so fed up with them we'd end up throwing them away rather than eating them.

"K-Rations": the true assault ration. It came in a box abut 12" long, 6" wide and 2 ½ " deep. In this little box there was a little can (like the little cans of potted meats, about that size), of cheese, meat or egg. With that we had crackers and candy.

We also had an emergency ration issued for periodic engagements called a "D-Ration", which was a very condensed candy-tasting, vitamin-reinforced, meal. It was like a candy bar about 6 inches long, 3 ½ inches wide and ¾ inches deep.

We got used to eating this kind of food. It wasn't really something we would enjoy eating day after day, but it was something we could make an assault with and have something so when we'd get so nervous we couldn't see straight, we could stop and eat a little and it would help us along. Or maybe we'd just get hungry and it would help us along.

A "5-in-1 Ration", which we didn't get into very often meant we had three meals for five men. They were about 18" square and 24" deep. These meals were much better but they had to be cooked so we had to have a fire to use them. It was mostly issued to the kitchens and they broke it down and cooked it for us. So basically, a "C" or "K" Ration was carried by the troops and the "5-in-1" belonged to the mess hall.

The service people have it pretty well made with the rations I've seen today, either on TV or in the various mess halls I've seen around the Army. They have rations like people take to the mountains hiking and camping with. Dehydrated foods and things like that. I don't even know if they have the old "C" and "K" anymore.

On the night of the 4^th of June, we sailed out of the harbor. It was a very rough sailing. In a very short time, we were turned around and sent back into the harbor. We were thinking, "well, that was a nice free ride out and back." Then on the 5^th of June, in the evening, we cast off again. The water was still pretty rough. We sailed out into the water where we couldn't see land anyplace and thought "maybe they're going to take us someplace in England to land or maybe we're going to France this time.

The initial word we received the night of the 5^th of June was that we would assault the following day, that we would have no fighting the first day as we were "Force B", called "follow-up Force" in Division Reserve. We were to go ashore and march to Forest Cerisy, 12 miles inland from the beach. The next day we would assemble, assume all the positions of the 16^th Infantry, take over their assignment and push off from there.