Journal of Otis M. ("Red") McGee
Aboard the USS Woolsey (DD-437)
During the Invasion of Southern France

Retyped by daughter Linda Dreblow from original letters


October 19, 1943 -- Have been away from the states 5 months and 7 days , and am ready to go back anytime. You can count the months of this trip as Hell, and the worse may yet to come. We have lost quite a few Tin cans Rowan, Bristol, these cruisers have been dam good ones. The sooner we get out of the Mediterranean the better. But chances look slim. I wish I had started writing my diary in May. It would have been more interesting. Have been in two invasions since we left Sicily and Italy. Sicily wasn't bad, but Italy was hell, more so for the Army. We are expecting to make one before the 15th of November. It seems like all invasions start between the 1st and the 10th: N.A. [N. Africa] November 8, 1942, Sicily 9th & 10th of July, Italy 7th & 8th of September. Maybe we are wrong . Who knows? I am afraid to go to ashore anymore. I have been ashore 3 times lately, & got into trouble each time.

October 26, 1943 -- Well we are on our way to Italy again, should be there tomorrow sometime. Have had a good trip so far, but expecting an attack at any time. We should pass The Isle of Capri in the morning, the last time we saw it we were busy looking for subs and planes to enjoy it. Looks like it will be the same again this time. We also saw the volcano near Naples, smoke & fire shooting out of it all niter. The last time we were in Naples the Army had been there 3 days, you could still see the guns in the frost pissing out fire at night. If we get back to Oran without being attacked it will be a Luck! But we are a Lucky Ship anyway, and a good ship. I'm not saying just to be bragging . I hope to get a transfer after we get home & get a new Tin can and go to the west coast, maybe see something different, or is all the war the same? I imagine it is .

November 15, 1943 -- We are on our old familiar route to Italy again. The weather has been rougher than usual. We left Oran yesterday and should be in Italy in a couple more days. We have had some good luck so far and I hope it continues. Every convoy that leaves out now is attacked. I hope we are an exception. Five ships were sunk by torpedo planes just outside Oran, a few nights ago. We have been away from the states 6 months now and I am ready to go back. Rumors are going around now that we are going to England. I hope not, I would like to be in the states by Christmas. I have been pretty lucky gambling, have won about $500.00 in the last 2 months. Hope it holds out. much I loved her until I left her. Will try to make up for lost time after the war. They don't make many like her now.

November 30, 1943 -- Well here we are almost in Italy again, or will be tomorrow morning with God's will. We have been lucky so far. It seems like every convoy in the Mediterranean gets attacked. Four ships were sunk November 27, 1943. We are still afloat thanks to the prayers of our people back home and God's protection. The 15th of December will make us 7 months from home and No prospect of going back now. Would sure like to spend Christmas with my wife. Have sent home $750.00 this trip and hope to send more. Have something for us to start on when I get out of the Navy. Maybe the war will be over by 1946. The Nazi's are still holding out and have a lot left. Dream of home every night, except the last two. Dreamed of fighting both nights and woke up with busted hands, caused from hitting the bunk head by my bunk. Will close for now, have 4 to 8 watch in the morning and must turn in now.


August 13. 1944 -- Invasion Of Southern France
Today we left Palermo Sicily, Part of a large Task Force which will hit southern France Tuesday morning August 15, 1944. The ships that left with us this morning, are only 1/3 of the bombardment ships. We have with us now, 12 Tin cans, 6 Cruisers and 1 Battlewagon. They are the Arkansas, Brooklyn, and one British cruiser, that is 1/3 of the Warships. We will meet the rest of them tonight or tomorrow. The shore bombardment will start at 06:50 Tuesday morning. We will fire 300 rounds by 8 o'clock. Our target at first is to knock out a battery of 88 m.m. And 4 batteries of 264 m.m. That seems to be a big order for one Tin can, ( us ), but some of the others have tougher assignments. The first wave of paratroopers will go in at 24:00 tomorrow night. Hour for the infantrymen is 08:00 Tuesday morning. We have 5 divisions (Inf.) to land at 3 different beaches. After they make there beach head, and secure it. The French will take over and head for Toulon. They want the French Army to have the honor of taking Toulon, and Liberating it from the Germans. This is our 5th invasion, we were 1st in the last 4. And 1st in this one. It's going to be tough but we know that, but so was the last 2, Salerno & Anzio. Will write more on this every chance I get.

August 14, 1944 -- Well here we are nearer France than this ship has ever been. We have passed 3 convoys. Today, transports, list and more Battlewagons and Cruisers. We have had no trouble yet, but expect it anytime. We have ideal weather so far, if it will just hold out. Everyone is trying to get as much sleep as possible, but it is hard trying to sleep now. We fire 300 rounds the 1st 25 minutes, what we were told today. Everyone seems to like that fine. I am only worried about but one thing. Will the French do good enough fighting, after we make them a beach head? If they don't it will be bloody as hell. Well have about 12 hours to go yet, so will try to sleep a little.

August 15, 1944 -- Here we are on the coast of South France, the invasion has been a success and every thing has gone fine so far. The assault started at 06:25 this morning and is still going on. We had our chance to see the power of the Allied Air Force, and what power it is. They started out dive bombing and strafing, then low level, then the Heavies came in . They really raised hell! I never thought it possible that they could bomb as accurate as they did. Our planes have covered the skies all day. They have been landing paratroopers and airborne troops now for the past 6 hours. Gliders and transports galore. The largest airborne in the war yet. The planes bombed from 06:25 until 06:50. Then we ( The Navy ) started bombarded for one hour and then the troops went in, just before the troops went in, a heavy rocket barrage was laid. They really raised hell. The battleships were laying way out firing, then the cruisers, then in next to the beach , lay the backbone of the fleet US Tin cans. We have had little opposition. All the coastal guns have been knocked out. The Army has been moving so fast we can't keep up with our spotting party. The Germans are blowing up the harbor in Cannes now. We can hear some hell of a big explosions. We have been at G.Q. since 03:30 this morning. It is 20:00 now. Everyone is tired, but happy. We finally secured from G.Q. at 21:45. Had one air raid at dusk, no ships hit. But some large explosions on our beach head. We knocked out 4 German Tanks this afternoon and a funny site took place. After we had demolished one of the tanks, a lone Heinie jumped out and started running up the hillside, our gunnery officer wanted him so he let go 4 gun salvo's, no more Heinie. It has been an exciting day and a tiring one, but everyone is pleased with everything. We expended 400 rounds of ammunitions and have plenty left for tomorrow.

August 16, 1944 -- We had a pretty quite day today. Went too G.Q. twice but haven't did any firing. We have been laying too in the harbor most of the day and are on patrol now. The Germans have been lobbing big shells over in the harbor all day. I don't know whether they hit anything or not. We had an air raid about 20:30 tonight and some heavy bombs were dropped. Our fighters and A>A. Fire must have scared them off though. We have heard some hell of a news broadcast on this invasion from the states. They make it sound as if we just came in and took control. It has been easier than expected, but not that easy. We are taking the place of a ship tonight that had a near miss last night and to go back, one of the radio controlled bombs. There isn't much that has happened today, but we can hear our army fighting like hell over there. Will close now till tomorrow. The night isn't over yet and we still have plenty of action by morning.

August 17, 1944 -- Has been a very nice day , only two raids today. And no damage that I know of. One of the Tin cans who was hot after a sub-marine this afternoon, and don't know whether they got him or not. They dropped off a lot of D.C. the smaller craft are laying a smoke screen now to protect the L.S.T.'s and Liberty Ships. The beach head is secured now and supplies are really pouring in. Reports say Our boys are Lomi from Toulon . Hope they keep up the good work. Spoke too soon tonight, for we have had a very exciting air attack, one of the torpedo bombers was shot down. They are really after this task force. They dropped flares all around tonight looking for us. After the plane was shot down, the bombardment ships go out at night and come in at dawn. Found out today that we have 19 (CR), 7 (BB), and 105 (DD) on the coast of France.

August 18, 1944 -- Today we have had plenty of action and fun for everyone. We went into Cannes this morning after some 88 m.m. that were shelling the army. They sent 3 (D.D.'s) into draw there fire where the cruisers could spot them. We went in alright, I thought we were going to run around and we were so near the beach. They waited until we were in about 3,000 yards from them and they opened up. Shells were hitting all around us, thick & fast. How they missed us God only knows, we still have the good lord on our side. And some of the old Woolsey's Luck is still good. We knocked one gun emplacement out. And the other warships got some more batteries. I don't know whether there are anymore left in that sector or not. If so we will get them tomorrow. If the Army doesn't beat us to them. Those boys travel fast, and are hard to keep up with. They were in the outskirts of Cannes today. We had an air raid tonight as we were leaving Gout. No damage and no planes knocked down. We are on our way to Corsica now, to refuel and take on ammunition. We may have some fun tonight with boats and subs. They attacked the outer screen last night, but didn't get through.

August 19, 1944 -- We arrived in Corsica this morning and have been laying in here all day. It's a pretty looking place, but we don't have any Liberty. We will have a beer party tomorrow if we are still here.

August 20, 1944 -- We left this morning on our way to France again. No beer today. We got back to our old place today, just outside of Cannes Harbor. That is sure a beautiful place. Hope we can get Liberty soon. That is to France like Hollywood is to the US. We haven't fired any today except one of the boys fired a 40 m.m. by accident. The cruisers have been firing into Cannes. They have air craft spotting the Guns for them. The Heinies made there regular nuisance raid tonight. Same time as usual . Five minutes to nine. We know when to expect them. They don't send enough planes to do any damage. Rumors are that we are going to bomb Toulon tomorrow. Hope so anyway. They have a battleship that was scuttled by the French Navy, that they are using for Coastal Defense. But I think we have enough of the Fleet in here to get it. They should realize they are whipped now. The rate our boys are going it shouldn't be long now.

August 21, 1944 -- We have had quite a busy day today, the first thing this morning about 04:30 some E-boats got inside the screen and the Tin cans Were after them. We were screening the Brooklyn and Tuscaloosa, and didn't get in on the fun. They knocked off two of them before daylight, ran another on the beach and waited till it got light and picked him off. We went into Cannes Harbor again today , but came out faster than we went in. They have some larger guns in there now, about 105 m.m.. and more 88's. The Brooklyn fired quite a few rounds in there, but I don't know what was hit. We got in touch with our army fire control, and went in and fired at the gun emplacements that had the army held up. We went in after dark and fired about 100 rounds.

August 22, 1944 -- Nothing much has happened today since we secured from G.Q. Coming out of the harbor this morning we picked up an army pilot that had been in the water for about 7 hours, since about 20:30 last night. When his plane went on the blink and he had to bail out. He is still aboard now. The cruisers have been firing pretty steady today, helping the army blast a path to Cannes. We went up the beach into enemy territory today, trying to spot one of their radar and knock it out. But we didn't find it. We are out with two cruisers tonight and should have a good nights sleep. Maybe Ö

August 23, 1944 -- Today we had plenty of firing. We have been knocking out the German guns as fast as they can move them up. The Army is making there final assault on Cannes now, and from the way it looks to us , It is bitter & bloody. We are between the two fronts, and have a pretty good view of the artillery, and heavy gun duels. We have expended about 325 rounds today and may fire more tonight. We have been getting good news all around today. Paris, Toulon, Bordeaux, And tomorrow maybe Cannes. General Montgomery says two weeks more will see the fate of Germany. We know what her fate is , but how soon will she fall? Before Christmas, I hope. The planes that were spotting for us today says targets were knocked out. So everyone feels pretty good. It makes you mighty good when you knock their Gun Emplacements .

August 24, 1944 -- Hasn't much happened today. Regular anti sub patrol . The Army is in Cannes now and are fighting the city and we can't do any firing. We gave them Hell last night though, busted their trucks and guns all to Hell. We had a hell of a scare about 01:00 this morning . The Livermore (DD-429) opened fire on us. They put them all over and around us. They have never been in combat before and are trigger happy. Wait until the two crews meet on the beach, it has happened before in this war though.

August 25, -- Today we knocked out some German barracks and mortars. Army said Dam Good Shooting! We are on our way to Corsica now to fuel and take on ammunition. We have fired 1200 rounds since D Day . Will not write anymore till something happens.

September 1, 1944 -- We have been around quite a bit since the last time I wrote any. We went to Corsica to fuel and get some ammunition, we only had about 300 rounds left. We left from there and went to Toulon, after Toulon fell we went back to Corsica, from there to Nice, and it fell day before yesterday. So this finds us between Monte Carlo and the Italian border, still blasting hell out of the Heinies. We were in on the beach almost yesterday firing. They cut loose back at us and we had to run like hell. We couldn't spot there gun emplacement. We are standing by today expecting to fire anytime. We never know when the Army will call for us.

September 9, 1944 -- Nothing unusual has happened, only continuous bombardment of the beach. We have had Liberty in Southern France, at St. Maxine and St. Tropez, not much difference than other places. All the people hadn't got back home. We have been to Corsica for more ammunition and fuel, it's our 3rd or 4th trip. Guess this just about ends this story unless we have some more close calls.

THE END