NORMANDY

Chapter 5

The supply areas behind both UTAH and OMAHA Beaches were of necessity situated in open country, for the small villages in the beachhead offered few closed storage facilities. Such an area consisted of a number of supply dumps each spread over five to eight typical small Norman fields surrounded by hedgerows, with hastily improvised muddy access roads and poor internal communications. Supplies were moved directly by trucks or DUKWs from the beaches to the dumps.

Larry was able to provide a narrative regarding the unit’s services at Normandy and shortly after, which highlighted the importance of the unit and the overwhelming amount of work they completed. It was submitted under the signature of the Unit Commander of the 2487th Quartermaster Company (Aviation) detailing the type of work done by these soldiers directly after landing in Normandy and reads as follows:

“In the past two months, both Platoons, one at Middle Wallop and the other at Thruxton, performed excellent service in carrying out their primary mission servicing the 366th Fighter Group and the 67th Observation Group. In addition to hauling bombs, ammunition, and gasoline for the Groups, transportation for the respective Service Teams was carried on as well. In this period of time, a total of 78,661 miles were rolled up in 13,301 hours of operation. Through extensive use of 1st and 2nd echelon set ups employed by the unit - deadline vehicles were limited to an average of two per day. Through the excellent efforts of Staff Sergeant John B. Pelligrino, Motor Maintenance Sergeant, and his section, vehicles were kept steadily rolling in the haul of supplies needed for use by a fighter squadron.”

Another narrative provided by Larry was a narrative for the month of September 1944 submitted by Captain Robert F. Colina, Unit Commander and reads as follow:

“2487th Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation), less Detachment “A”, no sooner had its Bivouac area established at Dreux when the job it had to do soon became not only apparent but very much a reality. In one month’s time the 24 cargo hauling vehicles of this unit traveled a total distance of 72,649 miles, hauling all class supplies consumed by the Fighter Bomber Group being serviced and the Service Team to which the Truck Company is assigned. Through the capable performance of the Unit’ss mechanics, Staff Sergeant John B. Pelligrino, Tech 5 Grade Coy F. Shirley, and Tech 5 Grade George Heath, all trucks were kept in operation. These men not only performed 2nd echelon maintenance to keep the vehicles rolling, which is their assigned jobs, but 3rd echelon maintenance as well, which is more than their assigned jobs. It is with pride that this organization can point to these men for a job well done. The drivers are to be especially commended for their endurance in driving day and night, back and forth from the beaches, where the supply dumps were located, in assuring that the consuming units always had the supplies so necessary in carrying on their part of the war. Hauls were made over minimum distance of 300 miles, many as much as 600 miles. In addition to hauling supplies for the Fighter Bomber Group being serviced, this organization has also been instrumental in hauling personnel and equipment of other units from airdromes to newer locations. Among these are the 29th Tactical Group, moved from St. Quentin, France to Arnol, Belgium, a distance of approximately 150 miles: the 122 MP Detachment from Courvron France to Dole France, a distance of approximately 200 miles.”

Now I have to stop again here for a quick second to highlight yet another act of fate only because it literally just happened as I was trying to finish this chapter. As I was writing, I decided to jump on Google and Facebook again and see if there was any other information about Normandy and the 2487th that I was missing. Keep in mind the names of the soldiers that were just mentioned in the Unit Commander’s narrative - Coy Shirley, John B. Pelligrino, and George Heath. Well, there he is again. Coy Shirley yet again.

My quick research on Google seemed to reach a dead end, but when I searched the Unit’s name on Facebook again, a photo popped up posted by a Paulette Omdahl and the photo was of her father. I must have missed this the day I found Larry or maybe it never showed up that day in my search for some reason. The photo was posted on May 26, 2018. I thought what the hell, that is still pretty recent. I’ll just message her like I did Larry and maybe she would have some information on her father’s particular unit and hoping her dad was with my grandfather in Detachment A. Like I said many times before, in all of my research, finding any information on Detachment A was almost impossible. I’ll take any chance I can get at this point. Maybe for secrecy or classified information with assignment to the 67th Tactical Recon Group, records simply do not exist online for Detachment A. Who knows. The only real