| Original caption: Beachheads Come High – Row upon row of stretchers cover the decks of a Coast Guard Landing Craft, Tank, bringing out wounded invaders from the flaming soil of France. These American and British soldiers fell somewhere between the beachhead and Cherbourg as Nazi defenders sought a high price in casualties for every yard they yielded. The wounded are being transferred to a Coast Guard assault transport which will carry them back to England for hospitalization. As plans for Operation Overlord were being formulated, the Navy identified the Landing Ship, Tank (LST) as the primary casualty transport. Between June 6-11, 1944, 106 of the 144 LSTs at Normandy were designated for casualty evacuation. Of these, 95 of them carried casualties on more than 1 trip and 54 of them were specially converted with hanger racks and even small operating rooms to serve as a Casualty Treatment Receiving Ships. On May 10, 1944, United States Army hospitals in the United Kingdom received orders from Headquarters, European Theater of Operations United States Army (ETOUSA), to send selected enlisted technicians and medical officers capable of performing surgery of trauma to designated channel ports in England for a period of training in the handling of casualties on LSTs from the invasion beaches back to English Channel ports. On D+1 and D+2 days, LSTs began to receive casualties in larger numbers on the beaches, and routine surgical treatment, such as control of hemorrhage and shock by plasma and whole blood transfusions, was instituted. Fractures were immobilized with splints of plaster of Paris. Pain was eliminated by morphine and, when necessary, by ether or Pentothal sodium (thiopental sodium). Sulfanilamide and penicillin was used to prevent infection; tetanus toxoid and gas antitoxin were also administered to avoid gangrene. In any case where there was obstruction of the airway, a tracheotomy was done. Definitive surgery was done only as a life-saving measure; with careful consideration in favor of conservatism. Due thought being given to the possible time interval before definitive treatment could be provided at the United States Army hospitals on the English coast. Definitive surgery was done on the LSTs in severe chest and abdominal wounds, traumatic injuries of the buttocks, and compound fractures of the extremities with damage to the main blood supply. Triage became a very important duty of each army surgeon on the beach, as sorting was a necessity in the proper handling and treatment of the casualties. This triage was done so that, upon arrival of casualties from France at the English shore, pertinent information was at hand and available to medical units receiving the evacuated casualties. The wounded were divided into ambulatory and litter cases. The litter cases were further divided into transportable and non-transportable patients. Casualties were classified as transportable when it was considered that they could safely tolerate over-land transportation, after debarkation in England, before requiring surgical attention. All those who would require immediate surgical attention and, or, early surgical intervention, upon reaching the English shore were classified non-transportable. An Army Emergency Medical Tag (EMT) was used on all wounded. On the back of this tag, a supplemental record was kept, for use in the event the patient should require definitive surgery. A brief indication of the type of wound, such as head, chest, or abdomen, was placed on the EMT. The LST was the only available craft suitable for the dual role of evacuating large numbers of casualties from the invasion beaches and carrying supplies from the United Kingdom to the Normandy coast. It was wisely decided to equip LSTs so that they might carry from a 150 to 200 litter and hundreds of ambulatory patients from France back to England. For the actual assault phase of Operation Overlord, it was decided to staff a given number of LSTs with competent operating surgeons and surgical technicians provided by theArmy. Although each LST was designated to carry about 200 casualties (both ambulatory and stretcher cases), LSTs could embark up to 331 casualties on a single trip. And through D+11 (June 17), LSTs evacuated nearly 80 percent of all Allied casualties (79.62 percent). LSTs were expected to make 3 “turn-around” trips across the English Channel over a 10-day period. After disembarking casualties at 1 of the 3 designated ports in Southern England, the LST holds were reloaded with equipment, supplies and personnel, and it set sail again for the Normandy coast. Each LST carried 2 to 3 medical officers and up to 20 corpsmen who provided the intermediate care and performed emergency surgery, as needed. Although most of the medical contingent were Navy, in several cases United States Army and even British and Australian physicians were attached to these ships. Because of the challenges of small arms fire, underwater obstacles, and mines in the early assault phases, LSTs typically embarked most of its casualties from an assortment of small craft offshore. “During that time LCTs, LCIs, and all kinds of other small craft pressed into service brought us loads of casualties,” explained Doctor Lieutenant Junior Grade Dale L. Groom (November 6, 1912 – December 23, 1999), a Naval Reserve physician attached to LST-357 at Normandy. “LCTs could marry to us, ramp to ramp. That’s how we received 220 casualties within a few hours of cruising up and down the beach. We didn’t stay in one place. And as soon as we took those aboard, we headed back to England.” They were also brought out by the small craft and then hoisted aboard the LST by sling. Serving aboard an LST was not without risk and several of these ships fell prey to German torpedo boats, submarines and mines. 6 LSTs were sunk at Normandy either while evacuating casualties or on the return trip. On June 11, 1944, LST-496 was struck by German mines 3 miles (5 kilometers) off the Normandy coast. Lieutenant Junior Grade Henrik Szylejko (June 27, 1917 – March 10, 1965), the ship’s Medical Officer, later remembered, “It was as if someone had roughly picked the ship and violently shaken it.” Ship’s company suffered 80 percent casualties. Szyleijko and the ship’s 20 corpsmen remained on the sinking vessel administering aid until the very last casualty was transported to rescue vessels. Many of the LSTs caring for casualties made 3 or 4 crossings of the English Channel, after which time the Allied invasion forces had gained a good beachhead on the Normandy coast, and airstrips were quickly laid down from which wounded could be evacuated by air to England. Evacuation hospitals and field hospitals were set up at nearly the same time ast he airstrips, thus ending the need for LSTs as casualty carriers. As a consequence of mission accomplished, all Army personnel were ordered back to their respective hospitals. The LSTs’ role as the workhorse of Normandy only solidified its reputation and the ship continued to play an indispensable role in casualty care for the remainder of the war. Over 29,000 American service personnel were killed in action during the Normandy Campaign. These numbers also included 4 Navy physicians, 1 dentist and 23 hospital corpsmen attached to LSTs, support ships and the Beach Battalions. Navy Medical personnel at Normandy were awarded 2 Navy Crosses, including Doctor Frank Hall (June 8, 1914 – January 6, 1989), 5 Silver Stars, including Pharmacist’s Mate 3rd Class Byron Dary (March 11, 1925 – February 19, 1945), 12 Legions of Merit (2 physicians and 12 corpsmen) and 23 Bronze Stars (16 physicians and 7 corpsmen). | |
| Image Filename | wwii2059.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.42 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 3336 x 4136 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Coast Guard |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | June 6, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Normandy |
| Country | France |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 26-G-2421 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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