Crossing the English Channel and Shelling Cezembre                                                                               -August to September 1944- Told by Ernest Coffman

"I tried to volunteer for the Navy," American, Ernest Coffman explains, "but they turned me down for bad eye sight." "That was in '43. So the Army took me in '43, when I was drafted.I went to Fort Leonard, Missouri for basic training and advanced training with a field artillery battalion observation - by sight and sound for firing locations.Then I was sent from that outfit to the 739th [Field Artillery Battalion] in Tennessee."

How was it like firing an 8 Inch Howitzer?

" That's a different story! That is - you didn't have ear plugs at the time, but when the gun went off, it had an awful roar. When the gun went off, you jumped at the noise. It was hard work, but you had to do it."

In July 1944, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean for Britain while on aboard the largest ship in the world at the time, the SS Queen Elizabeth. In late August, Ernest Coffman received orders to cross the English Channel for France:

"We had a history with the English Channel. The ship I was on, was hit with an acoustic mine. Then while we were being towed back, we were hit by a ship, and it scared the fire out of us! When we reloaded to go unto France, upon unloading over there, a cable broke and a 8 Inch Howitzer went through the bottom of the boat. We went on without a piece - a gun. One finally caught up with us."

Coffman finally landed at Utah Beach on August 31,1944 and proceeded to Dinard for his first target: the Axis held Isle de Cezembre off of the coast of southern Normandy:

"I was scared, but I don't remember hearing any [shelling] until we did ourselfs.... Their weapons were mainly pointed out into the English Channel."

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"You could see men walking around. When they would come out to get some sun, we would fire, and they would get back into their hole. That garrison of that island took some French women and shaved their heads. They were glad when the airplanes came because they would go away, but that artillery, they said, kept on pounding at them and pounding at them."

On September 2, 1944: 394 Germans and Italians on Cezembre surrendered. Ernest Coffman along with his battery headed off for their next destination in eastern France.