
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994                   TAG: 9406070002
SECTION: THE GREAT CRUSADE                    PAGE: DDAY12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

JACK CUMBIE WAS A FLOATING TARGET, BUT HE WAS FAST, SO HE LIVED

JACK CUMBIE OF Roanoke was an 18-year-old seaman aboard one of the ships at Utah Beach. His job was to bob in a small boat offshore, helping to hold one of the bigger landing craft in place while it unloaded its cargo of men and machines.

Put another way, Cumbie was a target.

"You could see the German guns go off, you'd see a puff of smoke," Cumbie says. "I saw a British plane come down as close as from here to that house. . . . I was nervous all the time."

The unloading took three hours, a long time when you're under fire, but a quick turn-around Cumbie remains proud of.

After the trucks and tanks were unloaded, Cumbie's landing craft was re-filled - with wounded.

"I kept looking all the time for my brother. I knew he was out there. Every time we brought wounded in, I looked to see if it was him."

Fred Cumbie, who was in the Army, survived the invasion. Six weeks later, he was killed as the allies started to press inland.

by CNB