Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994 TAG: 9406080061
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Greg Edwards
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A young British teletype operator in the Associated Press' London Bureau punched out a strip of practice tape and within minutes transmitted an erroneous message throughout the United States and Latin America that the Allies had landed in France. The message was corrected within two minutes but had already been broadcast over many radio stations.
American and Australian troops invaded three more islands of the New Guinea Coast in a flanking action in the battle for Japanese airfields on Biak.
After predicting an Allied invasion any day for several days, German radio switched and began saying an invasion would come no time soon.
``It gives you a great thrill to see a Kraut plane disintegrate in midair,'' said Private Samuel E. Holbrook of Dante. ``Especially if it's your gun that blew it to bits,'' added Private John H. Miller of Clifton Forge. The men were with the 536th anti-aircraft batallion in Italy.
Fifth Army troops captured ancient Rome, smashing German resistance in the heart of the city and sweeping northward in pursuit of battered German forces. The last German rearguard was crushed almost within the shadow of Trajan's wall. The former head of the United Press Bureau in Rome said 95 percent of the city was left unscathed.
Eric Johnson, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, visiting in Moscow, told 100 Soviet trade leaders that a bridge of trade could be built between the United States and the Soviet Union, despite the gulf separating their two economies.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters announced that Allied troops began landing on the northern coast of France strongly supported by naval and air forces. The Germans reported that the landing extended between Le Havre and Cherbourg along the south side of the Bay of the Seine and along the northern Normandy coast.
A spokesman for Eisenhower told people living along the invasion coast to move inland to a depth of 35 kilometers (about 22 miles). A new phase of the air offensive had started, he warned.
Pope Pius XII spoke to a crowd of 200,000 at the Vatican City and expressed his thanks to God that Rome had been spared the ravages of war.
Despite arrangements made earlier for the blowing of whistles and ringing of bells when the invasion began, church bells calling people to prayer were the only bells rung as Virginians joined the rest of the nation in observing D-Day in a quiet and worshipful way. Theaters and streets in Roanoke were deserted as Roanokers bowed their heads in prayer.
Berlin radio predicted more Allied landings to come and suggested that the bulk of the invasion force was still at sea.
The Allies announced the capture of the French town of Bayeaux and that they had cut the highway from Bayeux to Caen as they moved inshore.
The 5th Army smashed north and west of Rome toward Lake Bracchiano and the key Tyrrhenian port of Civitavecchia.
Diplomas were awarded to 242 Jefferson High School seniors by Principal J.D. Riddick.
The landing on the beaches of northern France was almost turned into another Bloody Salerno by weather conditions that made proper softening up by bombers and warships impossible, according to AP correspondent John A. Moroso III aboard the U.S.S. Thomas Jefferson. The landing, menaced by well-concealed German artillery batteries and machine-gun crossfire, was finally saved by naval gunfire.
Nazi-controlled radio at Calais offered the first report that the 29th Infantry Division, composed of National Guard units from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, was among the Allied units taking part in the Normandy invasion. Several companies of the 29th's 116th infantry regiment were from Roanoke and surrounding communities.
by CNB