LCVP HIGGINS BOAT 1944 U.S. NAVY LANDING CRAFT TRAINING FILM 81614

[@alexmontgomery255]

My wife’s step father was a coxswain on a Higgins boat during the Normandy landings. On his second trip in his landing craft was hit by an enemy shell and destroyed, killing all but three. He survived but was wounded and received a Purple Heart. He carried shrapnel in his left arm the rest of his life. He later served in the Pacific theater in 1945 on an LST. RIP Duke.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

God bless Duke and those who perished fighting for the side of right in WWII.

[@alexmontgomery255]

Thank you for your kind words. Duke was very dear to us. He loved the Navy and his country and he was proud to have served. Thank you all for your service.

[@princeofcupspoc9073]

@@PeriscopeFilm ... because when you are dead, that's all you have going for you.

[@robertloken8613]

Thanks, Pop was a coxswain at Luzon and Okinawa. Always wanted to see a closeup of his Duty Station.

[@davidduffy9806]

The courage of these young men is simply staggering.... they continued running men into the beach. I can't comprehend such courage under fire.

[@lewiemcneely9143]

My Dad and his whole family was in WW-2 and I can't imagine it either. My Mom said she knew my Dad for 6 months after the war before she saw him smile the first time. We don't have a clue.

[@princeofcupspoc9073]

Sorry to burst your rose tinted glasses, but "courage" was far from the usual, and with good reason. Courage gets men killed. Besides, if you want to see the other side of "courage," read up on the landing craft that decided to let their amphibious tanks off far out to sea off Normandy, to the death of most of the tankers, because the "beach was too hot." Or the pilots of the towing planes that disconnected their gliders or send out their paratroopers early because the "flak was too dense," such as Sicily, which lead to a large percentage dying in the sea. War is NEVER about courage and valor. It is always about fear, anger, and death. Only the newspapers back home talk about courage.

[@davidduffy9806]

@@princeofcupspoc9073 understood however the landscape of WWII is long gone and I’d prefer to remember with fond admiration

[@joelhuffman809]

My father was a bowman on one of these boats from APA 142 USS Clearfield at Okinawa. He probably saw this film during his training.

[@jogreeen]

I was thinking about which bloke I would want to be if I had to be in one of these boats None of them.

[@rpm371]

I'm sure my dad watched this film. He was a Boatswain's Mate in the Coast Guard assigned to an LST and an LCVP coxswain at Iwo Jima.

[@partizanforces3064]

We might've had relatives that met

[@geneziemba9159]

rpm371 maybe your Dad gave my Dad a ride at Iwo Jima

[@georgefleblanc1]

i went to a museum 4 days before my son birthday in June, many years ago. At the WWII Museum., They talked about Mr. Higgins & his boat Company. Not far from St. Charles Ave..

[@davidduffy9806]

It's difficult to imagine the young Engineer @ 7.20 has either passed or is now a very old man. Great film, as always thanks.

[@nicole_xlsx]

its 7:20

[@pochiluis0570]

I am mexican and this is still beign My favorite higging boat Good job USA you do a very iconic boat of the world :)

[@jonathanfreedom1st]

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@JUNKERS488]

I watch one of these working Daily as it takes trucks with supplies back and forth to a small island resort that sits about a half mile off our island. They sometimes take bulldozers or other heavy equipment and other machines needed to build more resort housing or to fix any major problems that need seeing to. I can literally look out my front door down the short road and see the VP docked with its ramp down since the end of the short road turn into the ramp. It's like seeing history every day. In fact it's sitting there right now as I write this I just came inside a minute ago.

[@TXMEDRGR]

The other parts of the training are forming-up into formations for traveling to the beach, retraction and the return trip. There is also training for coming along side the ship for loading of men or equipment. It took training to ensure all the boats of a formation hit the beach at the same time and didn't get in each others way. An amphibious landing is a complicated operation.

[@matthewdzienius7247]

I was an assultboat coxwain 1965-1969 bosinmate 3rd class Petty officer loved operating LCVP.& LCM-3

[@brentalbrecht4837]

🙏🇺🇸

[@mikearakelian6368]

I was a LCVP coxwain on the Iwo Jima...LPH 2...all were wood,no armor plate! Lots of fun to drive except under fire...large M 6 n 8 boats had armor plates.i got an M 1 and 45 pistol for self defense....

[@partizanforces3064]

My great grandfather operated these in the Pacific during the war

[@jonathanfreedom1st]

My grandfather operated one in D day. He was an engineer and Mechanic for USN.

[@jonathanfreedom1st]

Definitely worth watching. But they certainly made it look easier than the survivor heros told us that landed on Omaha beach. They definitely didnt know what they were heading into. My grandfather was an engineer on one of these and he said bullets were whizzing by their heads.

[@anthonyborg826]

The engine is a Detroit Diesel 6 inline an extremely reliable and dependable engine which is still in use (although discontinued) in many vehicles even to this day

[@lewiemcneely9143]

That's what I was wondering and probably a 6-71. Maybe a 53 series but I'd go with a 71. And the armed services are still using them but civilians can't. Nothing beats the 2-cycles.

[@anthonyborg826]

Lewie McNeely yes it is a 6-71n the 53 series had not been released then. It is still in use in many civilian and commercial applications especially in the marine industry the ones that I have worked on were generators on a tug boat with twin 16v71n main engines (the engines were never overhauled since they were built in the 60s). You will see them where fuel consumption doesn't really matter only reliability.

[@lewiemcneely9143]

I've been around and ran stuff with the 2-cycles from 2 cylinders up to 12-V's and some BIG Army boats had what looked like EMD's in them for mains. All the amphibs I were around had 903 Cummins V-8's and 6-71's.

[@anthonyborg826]

Lewie McNeely Its nice to see someone who enjoys engines. In diesels I mainly have been on the Detroit diesel and Volvo Penta engines. I have seen an EMD 645 and 510 it reminds me of an even bigger 149 series. We once had a 16v149 tib runaway I don't even wanna know what an EMD would do :)

[@lewiemcneely9143]

Me either. I've been with them in power units for all kinds of stuff, mainly in construction. Graders, forklifts, haul trucks, scrapers, screens, pumps, and I can't even think what all. People cuss them but if they really realized what went on inside the air boxes they might just growl a little. It's a wonder they don't leak worse or just blow the top off from the charging ports up. They are what they are.

[@jadenhiggins7167]

HIGGINS💯

[@MF-kv8cn]

i always wondered how the Higgins boats were transported from England to the beaches of Normandy since their range is only 100 miles fully fuelled. I guess according to this video they were winched into the water and men embarked the LCVP's by climbing down a rope ladder. Does anybody know how the LCM's which were capable of carrying 120 men, or a tank or five tons of cargo were loaded or did they make the journey from England to Normandy already loaded at port while being refuelled along the way? What about the LCT's which could carry three medium tanks? I would really like to know. thank you

[@lawrencetate145]

Nowhere can I find info on the "Magnusson compass". I may have the spelling wrong, but there is nothing on the 'net about it.

[@leoray1234]

As a designer, I wonder if the boat could have been designed differently so as to exited towards the aft to protect them from an open shot from the beach. I'm sure others have thought of this. Regardless, kudos to the extreme bravery and heroism of those who fought for our freedom.

[@jasonbourne1596]

The bullets don't care where you exit.

[@leoray1234]

@@jasonbourne1596 why make it easier for the gunners?

[@jasonbourne1596]

@@leoray1234 Read what I said again. No matter where they get off they are in trouble, that's just how it is. Do you think it's faster to get off the front of the boat and hit land, or fight water and you can still get shot just trying to make it to the beach. A machine gun spitting out several hundred rounds per minute don't care where you exit. You can get in the water off the side and have everything wet, or you can get off the front where at least you're dry if you make it.

[@frankwalsh8673]

Engine in LCVP was a Grey marine diesel

[@bishkoff]

Frank Walsh yes it was, built from a GM 6-71 Detroit Diesel, Gray Marine quit making their own engines in 1924.

[@ethanshinabarger4390]

Doc McCoy!

[@kylet3951]

It sounds like the narrator might be Harlow Wilcox (Fibber McGee & Molly)

[@trackhoe23]

Yup, I'd bet money on it.

[@marshallblythe7240]

Agreed. I kept expecting him to talk about how the boat was covered with a protective coating of Johnson’s Wax.

[@frankvogel8607]

I'd flunk out of higgins boat school.

[@ariver7491]

Never miss. Let's read the commentsthat start with; "I was" "My grandfather" "My wife's"

[@alanrothstein7119]

my father served with the SS Dickman troop carrier though he was Coast Guard and a Coxswain on such a Higgins. He trained in New London Conn.......though he shared very little detail about his attachment he was engaged in North Africa, Sicily, Salerno and Normandy........he briefly spoke of the fear of the young soldiers and often their reluctance to leave the relative safety of the Higgins........that delay would leave him and the balance of his crew extremely vulnerable.....after all he was assigned to return to the Dickman and shuttle more soldiers back to shore again and again.

[@MF-kv8cn]

it seems like everybody from the 1930's-1969 sounded the same. They all have that weird accent. What is that? really i would like to know.

[@iamdafuriousofall]

Pimp my ride 1944 version

[@markodrazic8889]

LCVP god ww2

[@princeofcupspoc9073]

A little reality about this "wonderful boat." They were made of plywood. With needs for metal in other places, anything that could be made from wood was chosen as an expediency. That is, cheap and dirty, but gets the job done. Easy to manufacture. However, these boats were s h i t. The Brits put (significant) armor on their landing craft, and had many fewer casualties at Normandy and other landings because of it. (The "armor" mentioned was not strong enough to stop much.) For the US soldiers and marines, bullets from any defended beach would wound and kill them before even reaching the beach. Terrible little boats. I pity anyone who had the misfortune of having to crew or be transported by one.

[@shawngillen3994]

the early versions were made out of wood and steel, but the later versions were full steel