PRE-INVASION

The regiment sailed from the port of New York on April 6, 1944, on the British transport Samaria. Major Speedie was put in charge of loading. Each hold had bunks five tiers deep, jammed so close together that there was only a narrow passageway between rows of bunks. Holds were lettered and bunks numbered. By chalking on each man's helmet liner the letter of the hold and the number of the bunk assigned to him, the embarkation proceeded very smoothly. The most serious problem was room. There were not enough bunks for all, and men were sleeping on the floor in every stateroom available. They most heartily resented the use of staterooms, one each, for the assigned British and American troop overseers, who did nothing but occupy space that could have been used by some soldiers, so that they wouldn't have to sleep in a corridor.

The soldiers also resented the British rations. They were mostly of the pudding kind which American soldiers wouldn't eat at home, and even then they had only two meals a day. They soon bought out the ship's exchange of everything edible, and after that had to go hungry. They did not fail to notice that the ship's staff had trays of food brought to their staterooms between meals. One of the things that causes combat troops to resent the SOS is that while the SOS expects the combat troops to be rugged and tough, the members of the SOS usually take very good care of their own comfort. The American troop overseer on the ship was an incompetent Reserve colonel, who was about a hundred pounds overweight. If he had any duties they were not apparent. The staff of the regiment took care of all details concerning policing, guard duty, sick call, and boat drill.

There were strict regulations about smoking on deck after dark. We had no difficulty enforcing the rules, particularly after the destroyers on the transport's flanks had chased off a few submarines. The Samaria's captain expressed relief at the smoking discipline of the American troops. He said that on a previous trip to Africa with British troops, the troops would not comply with the smoking regulations. When he requested that the British commander do something to stop the smoking after dark, the Britisher had responded, "But that can't be -- I have issued orders against it."

The Samaria landed the regiment at Bristol, and many expressed the opinion that the war couldn't be any worse than the trip over. Little did they know.

Training was resumed in the Midlands, as far as the possibilities of the terrain would allow. The last part of the time in Britain was spent in Wales, where the bleating of the sheep and the eerie night calls of the curlews, along with the constant rain, did little to improve morale. The time spent in the Midlands was better. The British girls knew what they were supposed to do to help out in the war, and it was a poor American soldier who couldn't find one to help him spend his pay.

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