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Ed LaPorta

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The Russians had liberated them but when they were told they were going to Russia, the answer from the GI's was swift, "No way!" An American convoy caused the Russians to back off and the destination became Camp Lucky Strike and then, the Statue of Liberty. (3:52)

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You don't want to mess with a newly liberated POW. Ed Laporta had to dress down an imbecilic MP when he arrived back in the states and not long after, could be seen leaping over a steam table to get at a non-compliant German prisoner who was serving the food. (3:31)

Ed Marriott

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Ed Marriott volunteered for the Navy eleven months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Once the war began in earnest, his ship, the USS Maury continued as an escort for the USS Enterprise and took part in several big Naval battles including the Battle of the Coral Sea. (4:39)

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Ed Marriott had been in the Navy almost a year. His ship, the USS Maury, was one day out of Pearl Harbor on the fateful day of the attack. The next day, after seeing the unbelievable devastation, it was back out to sea searching for the enemy. (6:11)

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He was there at the Battle of the Coral Sea. It was mainly an air battle, says Ed Marriott, who was a gun pointer on a destroyer. His ship was an escort for the USS Enterprise and its job was to keep enemy planes away from the aircraft carrier. (4:56)

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After a year on a new destroyer protecting convoys, Ed Marriott was sent to a new type of Navy unit, the Beach Battalion. These sailors went ashore during amphibious invasions to manage the ship traffic and establish some order with medical and communications teams, among others. (4:26)

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Ed Marriott's role in the Beach Battalion was in hydrographics, which meant he had to assess water and beach conditions and give a green light to boats to come in. Before the D-Day invasion, he was training near Slapton Sands when a training exercise was attacked by German E-boats, resulting in over 700 deaths. (3:32)

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When you got to the beach, you had to seek cover behind a disabled vehicle or boat, wrecked by fire from up above on the bluff. Beach Battalion sailors, like Ed Marriott, had to dodge the fire to establish management over the traffic into shore and the men and stores once landed. (4:46)

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No one could do anything about the dead on the first day at Normandy. There was too much fire from above from 88's and machine guns. Eventually, they could be collected, as GI's made it up the bluff and took the fight off the sand. Ed Marriott was a sailor in the Beach Battalion, there to manage the boat traffic once he could get out of his foxhole. (4:18)

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Ed Marriott was hunkered down on the beach by a disabled vehicle. Close to him was his buddy, Amin Isbir, also taking cover. The next shell flipped the huge amtrac over and there went Amin, crushed by the wreckage. Eventually, the beach was brought under control, which meant that a floating dock could be assembled and the landing of equipment could accelerate. (6:12)