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The Boat That Won WWII
(March 18, 2010) |
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For those of you who have seen the movie Saving Private Ryan you
will recall the opening minutes where the army troops are on landing
craft headed for the beach on D-Day. One of the classic photos of
D-Day is taken from the back of a landing craft with the ramp down,
soldiers rushing forward into the water. Or there is the John
Wayne movie, Sands of Iwo Jima, where Wayne, as Sergeant Striker is
telling his Marines to “lock-n-load” just prior to hitting the beach
from their landing craft. In all those movies the landing craft they
were using was a Higgins Boat. It is a flat bottom, thirty six foot
long landing craft, made of plywood with some metal plating to
protect the troops from hostile fire. | |
Van E. Harl |
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Soldiers disembarking from LCVP (Higgins Boat) WWII |
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On a road trip to South Dakota I drove through the
town of Columbus, Nebraska. There is a memorial for the
WWII famous Higgins Boat. It looked like a D-Day
memorial with an all metal Higgins Boat, ramp down and
three soldiers with weapons ready, charging onto a
beach. What I did not understand was why this memorial
was in Nebraska. It turns out that Andrew Jackson
Higgins, the man who created the Higgins Boat, was from
Columbus. As a young man he moved to Louisiana and got
into the lumber business, which eventually led to the
manufacturing of wooden boats. |
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The British had been in WWII since 1939 and were already realizing
the need for a shallow draft boat that could drive right up onto a
beach and off load combat soldiers. The problem was they were using
boats that the troops had to climb over the sides of and drop down
into the water. With all the heavy gear a combat soldier carries,
many Brits were drowning under the weight of the very equipment that
was suppose to keep them alive. The Japanese had a landing barge
that used a ramp which lowered down to allow the troops to walk off
the front of the boat onto the beach. Andrew Higgins already had a
flat bottom boat he manufactured for the fishing industry. After
studying the Japanese loading ramp concept he modified one of his
fishing boats and offered it to the US military. The US Marines were
going to need thousands of landing crafts for their Pacific island
hopping campaign. It was decided early on in WWII that a massive
beach invasion was going to have to be staged in order to get Allied
troops in sufficient numbers onto French soil. Again, there was the
need for landing craft to move the troops into combat. Over 20,000
of the thirty six foot Higgins Boats were made. Higgins also made
larger 56 and 70 foot landing crafts.
Many of the motorized torpedo patrol boats, what were known as PT
boats used in WWII, were also made by Higgins. The fact that the PT
boats were made of wood was the reason so few survived the war. The
PT boats were lashed together and set on fire at the end of the war.
It would appear it was easier to destroy the PT boats than haul them
back to the US. The Higgins Boats fared better than the PT boats.
At the Memorial in Columbus, Nebraska I told my wife they got the
weapons wrong on one of the soldier/statues. He was caring a Vietnam
era M-60 machinegun, something that was not around in WWII. But
Columbus did get it correct. The Higgins Boats were used in the
Korean War and used patrolling the rivers of Vietnam. My father the
Navy Master Chief was stationed on the USS Oglethorpe an attack
cargo ship. This ship had fifteen Higgins Boats that were used to
carry combat troops and supplies onto the hostile beaches.
I once got to go on a dependent's cruise on the USS Oglethorpe and
observe an operation called “away all boats.” This is where they
launch all the boats, which circle around in the water until ever
landing craft was ready to head to shore. It was just like in the
1956 classic movie “Away All Boats. The signal is given and the
Higgins Boats rush their cargo of men and equipment in a well
choreographed operation into battle.
The USS Oglethorpe was in Korea during the famous invasion of Inchon.
For six days is supported the 1st Marine Division. When General
MacArthur was ordered out of the Philippines by President Roosevelt,
MacArthur stated “I shall return.” That is just what he did, he
returned in a Coast Guard Higgins Boat. Now he made a number of
practice landings so he could get his wading onto shore scene just
right for the camera crews. In the beginning of the war the Navy had
very little experience with small boats like the Higgins, but the
Coast Guard had been using small water craft to rescue people ever
since motorized boats came into service. Because of this experience
Coast Guard crew members were called into action driving landing
craft during the early invasions of Pacific islands. The only Coast
Guard member to ever receive the Medal of Honor was Signalman First
Class Douglas Munro. He was killed steering his Higgins Boat while
evacuating Marines from Guadalcanal.
General Eisenhower once proclaimed that Andrew Higgins was the man
who won WWII, because of his boat. There are less that 130 Higgins
Boats in service in the Navy, but they still get used. The Navy is
developing a new generation of landing craft. There will always be a
need to get the troops onto a hostile beach. After Hurricane Katrina
in 2005, while helping to clean up, troops from the Mississippi
National Guard found a Higgins Boat in a pile of debris. They
located the owner who had bought it from the Department of Defense
fourteen years earlier for $1200. He told the Guardsmen they could
have the boat. It is now at Camp Shelby, MS with plans to be
restored.
Higgins Boats are in the hands of the public. When I was stationed
in Alaska I saw two Higgins Boats hauled up on shore and cut in
half. The owner then added new extended middle sections to the boats
so they could carry more cargo. The boats were used to get supplies
into remote locations where there were no piers. You just drive the
modified Higgins Boats up on the shore, shooed the bears away and
off loaded the gear.
Higgins Boats served in war and continues to serve in peace. They
also give you a new respect for the wonders of plywood. | |
By
Van E. Harl
Copyright
2006 About Author:
Major Van E. Harl, USAF Ret., was a career police officer in the U.S. Air
Force. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the
Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. Major Harl is a graduate of
the U.S. Army Infantry School, the Air Force Squadron Officer School and the Air
Command and Staff College. After retiring from the Air Force he was a state
police officer in Nevada.
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