We Called Ourselves Rocketboatmen

About the Book
D-Day, June 6, 1944–a day never to be forgotten. More than 156,000 troops crossed the English Channel from England to Normandy, making it the largest seaborne invasion in history. Leading the pre-invasion ashore were the brave, but little known, rocketboatmen, as they called themselves. Their job, as the first close up Naval offense, was to soften up the German beach defenses with 48 rockets, machine gunnery, and smoke screening, preparing the way for the LCVP infantrymen.

Through private diary entries and firsthand accounts, many read here for the first time, the unfolding of the earliest events leading up to the invasion is told in vivid and unforgettable detail. In choppy seas, oftentimes like sitting ducks in the water, these young men manned their landing craft approached the beaches at exactly 6:00 A.M.– half an hour before H-hour–unleashed their barrage of forty-eight rockets, twelve boats at Omaha, twelve at Utah Beach, lighting up the coastline like a Fourth of July grand finale. Several boats actually beached at Omaha and Utah under shell and bombardment and crossfire sustaining casualties, eliminating German coastline pill boxes.

Relive their compelling tales in this incredible story.

About the Author
Inspired by the altruistic nature of his father, Ensign William H. Palmer, a birth-rite Quaker from Stoudsburg, PA, and his voluntary service to his country in World War II, William Howard Palmer, Jr. brings us firsthand accounts of the brave young men who sometimes wore fear on their sleeves but forged ahead in spite of it, paving the way for, perhaps, history’s greatest military invasion.

An MBA graduate from Fairleigh Dickson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, Mr. Palmer is a retired Business Manager from the Paramus Veterans Home in Paramus, NJ. This father of three, originally from Paramus, New Jersey, now makes his home in Washingtonville, New York.

Mr. Palmer was formerly involved as a little league manager for ten years and an EMT with the Blooming Grove Volunteer Ambulance Corps for seven years. He enjoys writing, fly fishing, and skiing in his spare time. He has also published articles in Civil War Times magazine.