"We desperately need reinforcements!" *turns around for half a second* *destroyers literally put in park on the sand* "You called?"

I imagine the morale boost of seeing USS Doyle coming in close and pounding the enemy’s defenses must have been spectacular

Saw an interview with a veteran who survived Omaha. He said that while they were being overrun, a destroyer came in and exposed itself in a vulnerable way by positioning paralell to the beach rather than perpendicular like normal because the front of a boat is obviously a lot less of a target than the entire side of a boat. What it did was allow them to use their biggest guns to take out enemy machine gunners and apparently that's when we could finally able to pressure them with foot soldiers and ultimately take it over.

Could you imagine landing, looking back for support and you see a destroyer within a stones throw from you.

That's why there guys were the Best Generation ever. Selfless Service, Duty and Total Commitment without looking or asking for praise or recognition. True Heroes, every single one of them.

If I recall correctly USS Frankford used an immobilized but still firing tank as its fire control party by shooting at whatever the tank targeted.

Imagine the feeling our boys felt when that destroyer opened up and and started puttin in work i bet it was a hell of a feeling forreal

They were literally grounding in the swell. Every gun was firing, 5", 40mm and the 20mm. Gun crews from the seaward side moved across to help carry more ammo and swap out exhausted crew. They literally shot the rifling out of their guns sending every round they could and only pull back when they ran out of targets or ammo. Interesting fact, it was only on the US beaches that the DD Sherman failed and that was down to the order to launch the tanks being given too early and when the sea condition were too rough. On the British and Canadian beaches the LST's carrying the tanks took them far further in to shore than the US LST's risking their ships to get the tanks on the beach where the infantry needed them. Sometimes you just have to ride into hell to get the job done like these destroyer's crews.

As heroic as it sounds, when you're watching your fellow soldiers die, you will do anything to save them. You don't worry about little things like running aground cause that means absolutely nothing if everyone you care about dies. We look back on these moment as heroic but while it's going on, it's just what needed to be done. Thank god for these men cause who knows how the world today would be without them

Just got to see one of the last 3 ships still afloat that was in D-day. It’s an unbelievable feeling to get to stand on pieces of history.

"One day my grandson said to me, grandpa were you a hero in the war? And i said to him no I'm not a hero, but I have served in a company full of them" Dick Winters. I served in the military for 18 years, never deployed, I have a few ribbons to show but nothing will replaced the feeling of serving in one of the most powerful military in the world.

I bring this issue up when topics like Benghazi come up. Those ship CO’s back then had something lacking today. That being “Balls”. Today most officers are more concerned about their careers.

I wish I had this guy as a history teacher

Imagine the commanders of the enemies. “You are taking fire from a what now? An almost beached destroyer?”

You have a great way of telling these stories. Hard to describe but well structured while not eliminating all humanity or something

My grandfather was a gunner on one of these fletcher destroyer turrets he also served as the butcher when he wasn’t at combat station

See this stuff is awesome, when you see a problem and have a very outside the box solution. It is almost lost to history but without this genius support move the men on the beaches may not have succeeded or more likely taken much longer at the cost of many more lives.

Brings tears to my eyes picturing the men on those destroyers mutually agreeing to go f*ck shit up and help their brothers that are on the beaches. So badass and truly heroic

Bringing a ship of the line to an infantry fight: When a force multiplier becomes an Avenging Angel.

Brother your really relaxed and cool on how you lay down your info your very good and interesting you'd literally be the best history teacher or professor then most of us will ever have.You make this stuff way cooler than any I've ever had. I love the way you lay down your stuff. Your very good at engaging the listener and you leave them yearning for more . I really hope you keep this going all the men and women your talking about deserve an educator such as your selve. You should be proud of the young man you are I truelly wish there were more men and women like you. I'm sure you've heard the saying your doomed to repeat the same mistakes,....etc but while it's important to know the mistakes of our past. I think what's as important is how that history is retold by the remember er, and you are exactly the kind of guy that who ever wrote that statement would want to be the reteller of that important history. I don't think I'm saying this right, but what I mean is who ever made and said this statement would want a man such as yourselve to make sure that the periods of history that need to be retold and remembered the most would be remembered and retold by someone such as your self. Your the guy they would want to remember what they did and to share it with us. You should be proud of what your doing I mean. Sadly there's not enough rememberers such as yourselve. Please keep sharing, your way more important than you may think, if that makes more sense. What your doing has more importance than even you may think. What your doing is far to rare, and your needed more than I'm capable of saying. Thanks Brother your a gifted reteller of the history that may just be the most important history that we should remember and I believe men and women like yourself are way more important than even those who first said this would ever have thought necessary. ( AS SAD AS THAT MAY BE.).😪

I’m glad you are not letting us forget

The Tin cans in the Pacific Campaign were actually rubbing against the ocean bottom off the beaches. They would close to as close as possible. The Destroy Crews were referred to as Iron men sailing in Tin Cans.

My grandfather drove a DDtank to shore at Normandy on D-day, I think he was 18 or 19 years old.

All those men that fought that day were all heroes to me. And thank you to all those ship ,to give the enemy a what for

My grandfather was stationed on Okinawa, his cousin was at D-Day, when the larger artillery started letting loose he said it looked like they were launching cars right over their heads, he said you could see the rounds leave the ship and sail right over top of them standing on the beaches. I miss my grandfather and his Sargent. Sergeant, we used to have lunch together once a month, a teenager and two old Marines. Sarg passed on and then shortly after my grandfather passed. They were the last great generation. I have the upmost respect for those guys, It's sad that we are beginning to forget why they were there, too many people don't know what the Holocaust was. Rest in peace grandpa, I'll see you when it's my time.

This brought on a warm sensation all over my body. I had read about this years and years ago. It still moves me.

Now those guys are the true heros of Normandy.

DD's are BAMF! Not to mention Leyte Gulf. Thank you Commander Evans. Your men fought well.

The only way this history lesson could be better is if it were longer. Thank you for making the most out of the time given.

I had the honor of meeting a survivor of D day back in 1994. He said they had an 85% mortality rate . He was shot 3 times as he jumped into the water . 2 bullets broke his rifle in half as he held it above his head and another bullet glanced off his helmet . Being only about 5 ft 6 inches tall saved his life .

Excellent narrative.....about a day in living Hell...those ship commanders and sailors were true American Patriots...God Bless them all....!!

You really paint such a detailed and beautiful picture of some of the darkest days of mankind in modern history without the dark you can never appreciate the sun

Absolutely Love this channel!!!

God bless the soldiers thank you Grandpa David for your service

"This is the USS Doyle. We brought a big old case of f*ck you."

Those men are have my highest reguard for bravery and are my heros. I can't imagine the courage it took to charge the beaches. Every time I get a chance to meet a WW 2 vet. I thank them so much and it is an honor to shake there hand. Remember to thank a vet today👍

🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘 that is bad asssssssss Respect to the crew's of those ahips

The strength, determination and dedication those men had was and is unmatched to this day t!!

Thanks for recognizing the destroyers.

Imagine how rough it wouldve been if we had landed on a well defended beach.

Unfortunately, the USS Texas couldn’t be saved in Texas. It is extremely expensive to salvage historical battleships for museums. Archives, like your video are important!

The Americans of world war II were some of the bravest people that ever lived. The things they did during the war is what heroes are made of 🇺🇸

Horray for the navy. We even tried swimming Sherman Tanks, only partially successful.

I'm glad some of your older shorts I somehow missed are cycling around bc I didn't know this about the DD's

Laffey DD 724 was with Texas on Omaha Beach. In the book the ships I would not die. One of chapters was called Normandie training grounds. The Laffey was Sumner class destroyer. My great grandfather was on that ship during the Korean War. She still here today

I remember learning this in grade four

I thought destroyers were reserve, quick, and kind of weak ships. However this story makes me realize how effective they can be

Knew a man who captained a destroyer on D-Day. He was very emotional still years later talking about what he saw. Pissed at Eisenhower for not postponing because of weather he said. Saw lots of soldiers drown or not make it. After the war was a ships captain and pilot for many years.

I’m pretty sure you left out the best part, when some Germans in a shore gun bunker surrendered to a US Destroyer, sending a message in broken English to please stop shooting.

Well I mean Getting as close as you can to shore without beaching your ship and flooding a compartment is pretty badass

I did not know this. Outstanding

Why isn't this in games that feature these landings? That would be sick

I never knew that, no one ever says anything about the destroyers

The capital ships get all the glory but it was the cans that won the war

There's a great part in Ben Milligan's book, "By water beneath the Walls" where he recounts Admiral Hall telling his staff, "get those destroyers in there." They proceeded full ahead, made smart turns and pounded the German positions. One of the destroyers had to actually back off of the sand. Must have been quite a sight.

Would you please do a story on the uss lagarto..

He briefly mentioned that most tanks didn't make it to the beach. That's because the boat drivers would not get in close enough and let the tanks out in deep water. The tanks had skirts above the deck to keep water out, but being too deep they all got swamped and a lot of good men drowned.

I wish you were teaching our schools instead of all the gay pride/blm flag teachers.

Could you imagine being a German dug in and just seeing your buddies pillbox turned into a crater by a 16" gun.

I like your history clips dude!

What a time to be alive during that historical moment.

As the saying goes "Thank God for the Fletchers".

So in other words They DID their jobs!!

O'Doyle rules

Taking on water was standard procedure for Battleships and Monitors. The destroyers were late taking up the designated points. Check out the D-Day maps that show were every single ship should have been. A little research goes a long way

It's about time the Navy got credit for doing what the Army Air Force couldn't get done: knocking out German batteries and machine gun emplacements on Omaha Beach. Great reel.

Using a Sherman tank as a range finder. Badass! Tin cans can get to the center of many fights!

Dunno what the US navy were feeding their sailors that time but US destroyer were full of madlads, just look at Taffy 3.

America 🇺🇸 is Awesome love this wonderful highly blessed country!!!

Just Amazing the heroism!

i wonder what those tank crews thought as they were sinking

wow this should have been part of a movie :)

That is called being bad asses.

I believe it was also at the battle of Iwo Jima. I believe it’s the only US battleship that was in both theaters

Didn't know the destroyers got within 800m to give the fire support. That's good to know.

What about the time the USS New Jersey sank an Island? Or for the destroyers, the USS Laughy that (counting the 6 camicazis) took down 14 enemy aircraft and took 5 direct torpedo hits and still kept sailing.

Ages ago I read that destroyers were as close as 400 yards offshore to bombard German defenses on the invasion beaches. 20mm cannon fire and everything else.

I always hear about the American side of D-Day. And NEVER anything towards the British and commonwealth beaches. America weren't the only ones there. We were all there brothers. Fighting to stop the Nazi regime together.

Thank you for the info!

Maybe the allies should have planned on using multiple destroyers to Beach themselves and have a unsinkable gun platform to help the infantry.

It’s sad when you just how neglected such an absolute chad of a ship has been over the past 70+ years……

Troops: "WE NEED FIRE SUPPORT" Crew: "Captain, we can't get clean shots" Captain: "Fuck it, Run her a ground, and open fire"!

The problem with the American landings was that they released their amphibious tanks too deep,didn't believe in deployment of hobarts funnies and their bombing runs and bombardment did next to nothing to the bunkers and in most cases missed completely and they did far less operations to disrupt the enemy prior to the landing compared to Britain and they lost a good chunk of the first waves of men.

It's hard and sad to say this..but it's the truth. They don't make them like they use to.....

Never knew this, it's amazing what they did to assault fortress Europe. Hooah

I understand that this is a short video, but you left out a lot of history here. First with the shade thrown at Texas as a ship taking part in combat operations well past her prime. Operation Overlord and Operation Neptune should have been the centerpiece of your video, with Neptune being the support of landing craft which resulted in the lost of 3 destroyers. After impromptu AD HOC groups where formed on the beaches the destroyers where ordered to close the distancing to include grounding. The USS Fitch was so close that when they lost contact with their forward observer’s they began shooting at anything the tanks fired upon. You could, if you haven’t already done so, make a video about the Sherman tanks that sunk off the coast during the invasion and why.

Love your channel brother ! 🇺🇲

Excellent topic *!!

It was well known how deep the water was === it's the reason why those beaches were picked

Yes but even nearly running aground the destroyers hardly hit anything that was appointed

It's funny how some Murican guys are so passionate talking about wars 😆😆

That’s not entirely true, Texas was firing as troops landed. Shoot, Texas also risked beaching as she 2,000 yards from the beach to clear the path for infantry trying to break through at the D-1 exit. But yeah, the destroyers, with their shallower draft, were able to get closer

I love all the "I wish there were more people like these men today" comments. There are. You'd have seen them if you actually joined the military instead of talking shit about everyone else on youtube.

Those poor tankers in those DDs they would flood and drown inside a tank So sad😢

While it was heroic and honorable none of these wars threatened America like politicians these days. Seems as though they sent our grandfather's away to die while they plotted the demise of these brave men's family's and heritage

Bombers were supposed to obliterate the coast before the landings happened but they missed and blew up a bunch of farm land instead.

You should do one on the uss johnston.

Love your content man

Can you do a video on the USS Liberty?

Hell ya..!!!