LST 331 – Omaha Beach – After Action Reports

Another recommendation is that LST’s be beached for drying out about two hours before low water instead of four hours before low water as was the case here. It is believed that this would give about two hours time to unload which should be sufficient. This would result in LST being a target on beach for four hours instead of seven.

We were very fortunate that fire didn’t break out as our only means of fighting it would have been with Portable 002 extinguishers, a small handy-billy, and a limited supply of water carried in the Ballast Tanks, This situation was due, in part, to the fact that the ship was high and dry on the beach. Also, an exploding shell knocked the large handy-billy aft out of commission.