|
Haddock worked as a draftsman for Higgins Industries of Louisiana in the late 1930s when the company was asked to design a special boat. Fooling around with a cigar box in his home workshop, he came up with a design. His colleagues thought it was too complicated, but Mr. Higgins liked the idea so much he used it to produce more than 12,000 of them: the box-like boats with a mechanical ramp used by Allied troops for the 1944 invasion of Normandy. Allied supreme commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower later called the landing craft key to winning World War II. Haddock stayed with the company through mergers and buyouts until his retirement in 1982. He died February 6 from cancer at age 84. From This is True for 3 February 2002 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Georges Bernage List Price: $19.95 Amazon Price: $13.57 Editorial Review: This spectacular, large format, full color, new book is quite simply the most impressive book of its type we have seen. Packed with over 200 photographs, maps and charts, the book is divided into the sectors associated with the Normandy landings in 1944. What's more it is extremely reasonably priced.  By: Richard Platt List Price: $3.99 Amazon Price: $3.99 Editorial Review: How did the Allies plan and execute the most massive and daring invasion in military history? Read all about it in the DK Reader that explains in thrilling detail how the Nazis were defeated on the beaches of France. DK Readers is a multi-level learning-to-read program combining DK's highly visual style with appealing stories at five graduated levels. Stunning photographs and engaging, age-appropriate stories are guaranteed to capture a child's interest while developing reading skills and general knowledge. DK Readers allow progression of stories for beginning readers with simple sentences and word repetition through to stories with rich vocabulary and more challenging sentence structure for proficient readers.  By: Joseph Balkoski List Price: $21.95 Amazon Price: $17.56 Editorial Review: In this unforgettable narrative of D-Day, Joseph Balkoski describes the minute-by-minute combat as it unfolded on Omaha Beach, allowing soldiers to speak for themselves as they recall their attempts to maneuver bombers through heavy cloud cover, the claustrophobic terror aboard transports, and the relentless fire that greeted them on the beach. Equal parts oral history and meticulous reconstruction, Omaha Beach is the closest the modern reader can get to experiencing the Normandy landings firsthand.  By: D.M. GiangrecoKathryn Moore List Price: $19.95 Amazon Price: $15.56 Editorial Review: On May 30, 1944, tens of thousands of Allied soldiers and sailors began to surge through coastal towns along the southern shores of England as they prepared for the most ambitious amphibious military operation in history. By the go-date of June 5, the convoy was loaded and ready, and advance elements of the invasion force set sail for the shores of Normandy. Inclement weather quickly forced their return, however, and as the anxious commanders looked on, conditions worsened. Fearing that a delay in the launch of greater than twenty-four hours would postpone the invasion for weeks-when the tides on the northern shores of France would next be conducive to such a huge landing of men and materiel-Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force General Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to go ahead with the attack the next morning, when there would be a brief break in the weather. The Allies set forth on June 6, 1944, forever after known as D-Day.  By: Paul Carell List Price: $29.95 Amazon Price: $23.36 Editorial Review: On the 50th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy: a revised and updated edition of Paul Carell's great classic. June 6, 1944 - D-Day. The day when, after years of preparation, Germany's opponents in the west - the USA and England - began the second front, long demanded by Stalin to take pressure off the Red Army. What really happened on that day? Why was the German command reluctant to believe in an invasion at this hour and on this coastal sector? Where was the German counterattack? Why were the panzer divisions, which were ready for action, not allowed to strike? What was going on with the Luftwaffe? Carell answers these questions convincingly, factually and in his typically gripping style. Furthermore, in this new revised and expanded edition he has taken into account the most recent results of historical research, especially the successful allied deception effort achieved by agents, phoney radio transmissions and sophisticated disinformation operations, details of which have only recently been revealed, and which led to fateful false estimations by Hitler and the German generals. Paul Carell is also the author of the highly successful Foxes of the Desert; Hitler Moves East; Scorched Earth; Operation Barbarossa in Photography; and Stalingrad: the Defeat of the German 6th Army. He lives in Hamburg, Germany. |
About the HUs
About This is True
Prev: Actor Harold Russell Next: French resistance fighter Genevieve de Gaulle-Anthonioz |