James Hollis "Jimmy" Bearden

Conflicts & Campaigns

• North Africa; Sicily; Normandy, France Invasion June 6, 1945
• Pacific Theater; Solomons (LCT 5), USS (LST-521), LCT Flotilla 12, LCT 6
• LCT 6, Flotilla 26

Significant Duty Stations

• Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, Maryland; (harbor net, Newport, Rhode Island) Mellville, Rhode Island

Decorations & Citations

• European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with four bronze stars and one bronze arrowhead
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; American Campaign Medal; Good Conduct Medal; World War II Victory Medal

Notes

SSN 264-28-0882. US Navy service number 832-51-78. Born; Shelbyville Tennessee. Attended Cairo High School. Brother of Sergeant Douglas Crawford Bearden US Army Air Corps, Private First Class Robert Harry Bearden US Army and AE2 Frederick Waddell Bearden US Navy. Burial; Greenwood Cemetery, Cairo, Georgia. I was born October 3, 1922 in Shelbyville, Tennessee. I moved to Cairo and was drafted in May 1943. I decided to join the Navy. I had my boot camp training at Bainbridge Naval Station in Bainbridge, Maryland. After a short leave I went back to Bainbridge and attended Boatswain School. I received further training in New Orleans, Louisiana. From New Orleans I boarded the ship General George O'Squire. We docked in the English Channel. Here we picked up landing craft tank ships trained for amphibious landings. On June 1,1944, our LCT was loaded with 180 tons of ammunition. Then on June 4, 300 combat soldiers entered our LCT. The soldiers were given invasion money. One asked me, "What kind of money is this?" I told him that he would find out the next morning. On June 5, we started across the Channel for the Normandy invasion. Because of the weather, we were turned back. On June 6, we started again. There were thousands of ships and airplanes. About 3:00 A.M. the planes came over. First they dropped bombs and next came the paratroopers. About two or three miles out from the beach, destroyers and cruisers sprayed the beachheads with gunfire. We were in the first wave to hit Normandy. We hit the beaches at high tide. This at 5:30 A.M. June 6, 1944. After dropping the anchors we set down the ramp to let the soldiers off. We couldn't leave so we dug fox holes, removed the wounded and waited for the trucks to unload our ship. The crew aboard the LCT was the Captain, Lieutenant John D. Allen from Youngstown, Ohio, boatswain (myself), two electricians, two machinist mates, four gunners mates, one signal man and the cooks. One name I remember was Thaddaus Kadinsky from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Three boys had the last name of Green and were from Texas. After the tide came back in, we pulled our ship off the beach and went back to the Merchant Marine ship to reload. Some of the landing crafts would hit the sandbars, thinking they were on the beach, they hurriedly jumped out. Many sailors were drowned. On the third wave, we carried in a ship that General George S. Patton was on. The enemy had pillboxes up in the cliff. They were loaded with guns, supplies and ammunition. There were tunnels running to the pillboxes. The only way our soldiers could get to the problem was to send up two tanks at one time. The first tank would be hit but the next one would get up there and shoot the enemy before they could reload. After the beachhead was secured we went through the tunnels. One soldier had his left arm shot off above the elbow. Still he helped us load the wounded. We carried the wounded out to the hospital ship. A bulldozer came and dug trenches and buried the dead. A few months later a few of us sailors decided we wanted to go see Paris. We stole a jeep off the ship. It was in a box and we had to assemble it. Since Navy personnel were not allowed in Paris, we borrowed some of the soldier's uniforms, dressed in them and took off for Paris. We were on the outskirts of Paris when we were stopped and asked for our identification. Needless to say we never saw Paris. When the MPs saw our Navy ID's, we were placed in confinement until our ship's captain could be notified. We were there for five days before returning to the ship. Burial; Greenwood Cemetery, Cairo, Georgia.