Living comfortably with his daughter and her family in Naperville, it's a long way and a lifetime ago from Coleman King's wartime story.

Enlisting in Illinois, he spent the first year of his enlistment in the warm climes of St. Petersburg FL, Miami Beach, then on to Jefferson Barracks in Missouri, then on to Massachusetts for the trip overseas. Traveling on the Ile de France on the trip across the Atlantic, but not exactly in first class as the bunks were stacked eight high. It took approximately five days to make the trip, but the only time Coleman left his rack was to empty his helmet. No food for him in that five days, only heavy seas and continuous seasickness.

After arriving in London, they moved to outside London (Bury St. Edmonds) by truck convoy. Once there, the British Commander chose the thirty tallest men under 200 pounds for special duty. The food there was okay, but the mutton went directly into the garbage. He still won't eat lamb today.

Attached to the 95h Tactical Air Force, Coleman was charged with loading and unloading everything from small supplies to engines, bombs, etc., by crane.

Mr. King landed on the south end of Omaha Beach near Utah Beach on June 6, 1944 under heavy enemy fire. It was a "terrible mess" with unbelievable noise levels. The cranes were offloaded in about 4 1/2 feet of water. Tracks were laid to follow to the beach. There was a large cliff at the rear of the beach that had been scaled by the Army Rangers called Pointe du Hoc. Mr. King and his outfit were met by an Army major who wondered "what the hell they were doing here." After being told they were preparing to unload supplies, they were told to stay out of the way. They spent the next three days living in foxholes and on the fourth day supplies started arriving.

It was at least a week before roads were built, so they camped in an apple orchard. Using parachute silk draped over the trees as camouflage they bivouacked there.

After the Battle of the Hedgerows and the Battle for St. Lo, they moved to the middle of France to Etampes (30 miles below Paris). It wasn't all bad, Mr. King managed to be in Paris the day after her liberation. Vive la France!
Discharged as a PFC from the Army Air Corp at the end of 1945, Mr. King was given a war bond representing back pay owed him. There was still an amount outstanding so Uncle Sam issued him a check in the amount of $00.05. (He never cashed that check.) Mr. King also served in the Naval Reserve during the Korean Conflict until 1954.

Mr. and Mrs. King were married 17 days short of 60 years, raised four sons and a daughter. They were blessed with fourteen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. He retired after twenty years as a Chicago cop and twenty five years at WGN-TV. He currently has a grandson, Eric Johanson, serving in Afghanistan.

Pat Ischinger

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