"I would like
to point out that the landing craft which I commanded was the first to
land on Dog Green Sector, Omaha Beach. We managed to get off but were so
shot up that we had to rebeach. The unit following our boat was Co.A,
116th Inf., 29th Div.. It was a National Guard unit from Bedford, Va.
and thereabouts, and consisted of brothers, cousins, at least one father
and son. Within fifteen minutes all but six of Co. A were dead or
wounded; only six men untouched. After that slaughter, that sector of Omaha
beach was closed. In the movie, Finding Private Ryan, the landing
takes place on Dog Green and the gist of the story is the search for the
last brother of a family."
"I have the American flag which was taken down just before the boat
was sunk in the English Channel. It is full of bullet holes." Victor
Hicken
More about Victor Hicken is available off-site at US LCT(A) 2227
"Old LST 1084 was lumbering along at 4 knots an hour, when her engines were functioning. Date Dec. 25, 1946, time 0400. Place midway between Guam and Hawaii. Morale of crew low, wanting to get home, and trip taking forever. Four of us had the morning watch. Over the horizon appears a topmast, then rising from the sea almost was a huge Essex class carrier. Then signals from the carrier spelling out M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S. Warming feelings among the four of us. I have always treasured that moment."
"I really respect the Marines. Our ship took a battalion off Okinawa after they had been fighting for a month. It was really sad. We asked the officers if they wanted to sleep in the officers" quarters. They said "No", we will sleep with the men." That I have always remembered."
(Permission to copy the following given by Major Greg Watson to Gloria Frazier)
"Dr. Hicken,
Greetings from one of the grateful who have read your
books. I came across your name on the Macoupin county genealogy home
page. Your book was central to my start in genealogy. Fascinated by the
Civil War and raised on stories of how my Dad used to play with his
g-grandafather's musket, I began looking for his service record in 1976.
That same year I found your book, Illinois In The Civil War, in my
school library. With it in hand and the address for the Archives in
Springfield, I found not just service records, but real history on the
10th and 61st Illinois Infantry Regiments. One of my g-g-grandfathers
has his picture in Stillwell's "Story of A Common Soldier". I bought the
update when it came out in 1991.
Currently I am travelling around the
deep south, at the pleasure of the Air Force, living about thirty miles
east of the Bentonville, NC battlefield. I am rounding out the available
information on the 10th, 61st, 97th, 99th, and 144th Illinois Infantry
Regiments. Was there ever anyone who did similar books for Indiana or
Missouri? I am currently trying to develop information on the the 10th
and 49th Missouri Infantry (union). Apparently my wife's Pike County
relation jumped the river to enlist.
Anyway, thank you for a
wonderful book which has played such a large part in my personal history
quest.
vr,
Major Greg Watson
About Dr. Hicken: I have great respect and admiration for him and his work. If the Air Force had an ROTC detachment at Western Illinois in 1981, I'd have gone there instead of SIUE. I have two copies of the Illinois in the Civil War book, a pamphlet from the Centennial Commission that he wrote, and another book called the American Fighting Man which he published in 1973. When I first learned about him I had no idea he was from so near home. I was thrilled when I learned they had published an update in 1991. My personal interest lay with Leander Stillwell of the 61st Illinois, oft quoted in Dr Hicken's book. He grew up in the same township as Enoch W. Wallace, my ggg grandfather.
I am currently serving as an F-15E Weapon Systems Officer at Seymour-Johnson AFB, NC. I am a Major with 13 years on active duty. I graduated from Jerseyvile HS, Lewis & Clark Comm College, SIUE, and have a Master's from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Please use anything of value I might have written - I too would like to honor Dr Hicken. He sent a reply to my email, but it was garbled in transmission.
Thanks,
Greg Watson
"I hesitate to tell you this but a new book called Omaha has a number of references to me and my boat on D-Day, including a little map showing exactly where I landed. I will not tell you more because you would probably try to put the whole book on the website."
Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944
Joseph Balkoski
ISBN:
0811700798
Format: Hardcover, 416pp
Pub. Date: March 2004
Publisher: Stackpole Books
From the Publisher noted at the Barnes and
Noble site:
"In Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944, Joseph Balkoski picks up where other historians left off and weaves personal recollections and historical analysis into a gripping, unforgettable narrative of one of the U.S. Army's most costly days of World War II. After placing the D-Day preparations firmly within their diplomatic and strategic context -- from Gen. George Marshall's early enthusiasm for a Normandy landing to the Tehran conference, where Stalin's support moved the plan into its final stages -- Balkoski describes the minute-by-minute combat on Omaha Beach. Using a series of detailed maps to illustrate the progress of the invasion, as well as a broad selection of first-person accounts -- many given mere weeks after the fighting -- Balkoski crafts a seamless story of the action as it unfolded. He allows both officers and enlisted men to speak for themselves, as they vividly recount their attempts to maneuver bombers through heavy cloud cover, the claustrophobic terror of manning a tank aboard a landing vessel, and the relentless fire that greeted them as they inched their way across the beach.
A concluding section recognizes Omaha's Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross recipients and lists the minute details of the landings, such as the order of battle, unit-by-unit casualties, and the equipment the men carried. Equal parts oral history and meticulous reconstruction, Omaha Beach is the closest the modern reader can get to experiencing the Normandy landings firsthand. It is a fitting tribute to the veterans and an indispensable history of one of America's -- and, indeed, the world's -- most important days."
Two stories from the Hicken family, Mary and Vic. Each is a special
memory of the warmth and glow that Christmas can bring.
Mary's
mother passed away when she and her two sisters were very young. Her
father, now a widower, did the best to hold the family together with
cohesive love and affection. Though Christmas time was hard, it was made
much easier because three or four men from Captain O'Connell's World War
I regiment would bring a tree and toys as well, decorating the apartment
while three little girls watched, wide-eyed and expectant . Mary has
never forgotten those wonderful moments.
In the Christmas time of
1944, Vic was coming home from the Pacific theater of war. The ship
could only make four or five knots an hour, and the time passed ever so
slowly. On Christmas morning, Vic was officer of the deck and, as the
sky cleared of night, he could see the top of a mast of an obviously
large vessel. It was an aircraft carrier. When its conning tower hove
into sight, its signal light began to blink ,'Merry Christmas,' was the
message. So unexpected, but it gave one a wonderful feeling of the
spirit of Christmas.
Each of us has similar stories to tell. And
that is why we cherish this special time.
Our affection to all,
Vic and Mary
Victor's Birthday
28 Sep 2001
80 years old
Mary Hicken's Birthday
80 years old
Mary and Victor Hicken on Mary's 80th Birthday
Mary and Victor Hicken at a university function 20 Jun 2005
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