USS LCI(L)-93 was an amphibious assault ship (Landing Craft Infantry

Landing Craft Infantry

The Landing craft, Infantry or LCI were several classes of sea-going amphibious assault ships of the Second World War utilized to land large numbers of infantry directly onto beaches. They were developed in response to a British request for a vessel capable of carrying and landing substantially...

 - Large), commissioned in 1943 by the United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

. It participated in the Operation Husky Landings in Sicily on July 10, 1943, as well as the landings at Salerno, Italy.

Normandy Invasion

As part of the massive amphibious force created for The Normandy Invasion, LCI(L)-93 took part in the landings at Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II...

 on D-Day

D-Day

D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...

, June 6, 1944. After offloading its second cargo of American troops, the vessel became stranded between the shore and a sandbar. German Artillery then opened fire on the vulnerable ship, seriously wounding several soldiers and Coast Guardsmen. Among those injured were Stewards Mate 2/c John Roberts, an African American crewman, who lost his leg when an enemy shell passed through a bulkhead.

Badly damaged, LCI(L)-93 was lost as a result of this action.

In Art and Television

In addition to several photographs taken of LCI(L)-93 after the battle, several paintings of Omaha Beach depict the ship under fire on D-Day. The story of LCI(L)-93 was also told in The History Channel

The History Channel

History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...

 documentary A Distant Shore: African Americans of D-Day

A Distant Shore: African Americans of D-Day

A Distant Shore: African Americans of D-Day is a television documentary program that was produced for The History Channel by Flight 33 Productions in 2007. Executive Producers were Douglas Cohen , Louis Tarantino and Dolores Gavin . The program was written by Douglas Cohen and produced by Samuel K...

, with veteran John Roberts recounting his story of the ship's action at Normandy.

External links

• http://www.uscg.mil/History/WEBCUTTERS/LCI_93.pdf
• http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/15/150093.htm