Ahead of 80th anniversary, veteran shares D-Day memories

His unit was charged with putting pieces together for the D-Day operation, quite literally.  

Born in Culver City, California, Howard Reilly was drafted into the Navy in June 1943 and was assigned to the Navy Seabees, officially known as the United States Naval Construction Battalions.  

In the Seabee’s he was part of the 97th and later the 108th Battalion in World War II.

In October 1943, Reilly was sent overseas to Scotland. The following months were spent preparing for the D-Day invasion, what Reilly called the “best-kept secret in the war.” 

“All we knew was we would have to figure out how to manage pier heads,” he said. “They were all over the country so the German could never figure out what they were.” 

The pier heads operated as landing wharves at which ships were unloaded.  

In preparation of the D-Day invasion, the Seabees were trained in how to run pier heads.  

“We found out we were going to build the artificial harbor for the invasion,” he said. “We had bridge spans a quarter of a mile long.” 

The Warren resident, who turns 100 in October, explained that Phoenix’s were 40-feet wide, 100-feet-long, and 60-feet tall concrete squares. Phoenix's were reinforced concrete caissons.  

“Each corner had a spud which used electronics to move up and down,” he said. “There were 22 men to every pier head.” 

It was while Reilly was at South Hampton, England, when he and the other Seabees realized that all the pier heads were going to connect. 

“A bridge went from the pier heads to the shore. We were at the Isle of Wight until the sixth of June. We knew something was going to happen,” he commented. “Omaha Beach was the largest of the beaches with the biggest pier heads. We had to form the pier heads because everything that came ashore went across this pier head, onto the bridge to get to land. They would bring in the LSTs and thousands of men and tanks.”  

Within hours of the Allies successfully creating beachheads following D-Day, sections of the two prefabricated harbors and old ships were being towed across the English Channel from southern England and placed in position off Omaha Beach and Gold Beach.   

“We set up the artificial harbor and it took us nine days,” he said. “I was on a pier head where ships would come and unload, we had to latch them together. We were about a quarter mile out and there was a floating bridge. We arrived at Omaha Beach the day after D-Day. The plan on D-Day was to get about 10 miles into Normandy. They didn’t make it past the hedgerows. When we got there, there was a lot of activity going on.”   

Regarding what Omaha Beach looked like the day after D-Day, Reilly noted that it was filled with landing craft and tanks. 

“There were still floating dead people at that point,” he said. “I looked at the one guy and saw that he wasn’t American. He had a leather jacket and I saw he was a French aviator.” 

His unit brought plenty of materials ashore, as well as thousands of troops in the span of a few days in June 1944.   

“It took us nine days to put together the harbor,” he said. “They had to latch them together. Our job was to be at the end of the bridges when stuff came ashore.” 

Reilly remained in France for a few months after D-Day. He returned to the U.S., then was sent to Guam in the Pacific.  

Reilly was discharged from the Navy in June 1946 with the rank of carpenter’s mate second class. He was then in the Army from 1948-1954, working at the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia.  

To hear more D-Day-related stories like Reilly’s, gather at The War Memorial on June 6 at 6 p.m. for a special 80th Anniversary of D-Day Ceremony. Join us on the back lawn for this engaging commemorative ceremony. 

*This story originally was published in the Summer 2024 edition of Live Inspired Magazine, a War Memorial publication.