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A naval signals officer recalls D Day

online resource
posted on 2024-06-05, 18:59 authored by Their Finest Hour Project Team

My father James Michael Hill served in several ships during the Second World War. He didn't speak much of his experiences but they clearly haunted him all his life. As Parkinson's disease took hold of him in the latter part of his life my mother had to pacify him many times when he saw water all around the bed and relived the sinking of one ship, the Holcombe in 1943.

He had signed up in May 1942, he would have been almost 20 years old and was trained as a coder. He was not a great churchgoer but his service record notes his religion as Quaker. Family discussions at that time must have been intense - his father, my grandfather was a contientious objector working for the war effort as a chemist in the mines at home but refusing to bear arms.

Amongst the things my father held on to throughout his life was a diary that he wrote around D Day. He boarded the USS Augusta on Saturday 27th May 1944 remarking how fed up they all were with cramped conditions. The diary does convey the feeling that he knew something major was building. Top brass were coming and going; he mentions the King visiting, numerous admirals and captains and Eisenhower and Ramsey coming alongside at Utah on 7th June 1944.

History

Item list and details

1. Diary written whilst serving as a coder on board the USS Augusta off the French coast, Omaha and Utah beaches. 2. A copy of the message declaring the end of war 3. An American document giving background and guidelines for members of the military going ashore in France.

Person the story/items relate to

James Michael Hill

Person who shared the story/items

Susan Rendell

Relationship between the subject of the story and its contributor

He was my father.

Type of submission

Shared online via the Their Finest Hour project website.

Record ID

121222