| Original caption: “It’s Their turn Now. American reinforcements, eager for their shot at the retreating Nazis in Normandy, pile from a Coast Guard landing barge into the surf on the French Coast. Hardened for battle, they are going in to reinforce and replace the fighting units that secured the Norman beachhead and spread north toward Cherbourg.” American soldiers, wearing poison gas detection brassards on their left shoulders to avoid interference with shouldering their rifles on their right, disembark from Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel (LCVPs) from USS Joseph T. Dickman (APA-13). A Landing Ship Tank (LST) is behind the LCVPs. A Lieutenant leads his platoon out of the LCVP. The men carry .30 caliber ((7.62 millimeter) M1 Carbines and 1 has an M1903 .30 caliber rifle. USS Joseph T. Dickman (APA-13), a 21,900-ton attack transport, was built at Camden, New Jersey, as the civilian passenger ship Peninsula State. Completed in 1922, she was soon renamed, initially becoming President Pierce and a few months later President Roosevelt. Operating commercially until 1940, she was then taken over by the War Department, renamed Joseph T. Dickman after the World War I United States Army General (October 6, 1857 – October 23, 1927) and converted to a troop transport. She participated in Operation Torch, landing troops in Morocco, the South Pacific, Sicily and Salerno. USS Joseph T. Dickman participated in training operations from February to May 1944. On June 6, 1944, USS Joseph T. Dickman landed troops on Utah Beach, and made a 2nd landing on June 14. Then she participated in the invasion of Southern France. After a stop in the United States, USS Joseph T. Dickman sailed to the Pacific in January 1945. After training, USS Joseph T. Dickman landed troops on Okinawa in April 1945. She participated in Operation Magic Carpet, returning American troops from overseas, in December 1945. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0468.jpg |
| Image Size | 891.76 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 3850 x 3000 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Coast Guard |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 1, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Slapton Sands |
| State or Province | Devon |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 26-G-2409 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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