U.S. infantry and vehicles embark on ships at English shore prior to D-Day invasion of Normandy, France during World War II. U.S. infantry march along street. Soldiers carry ammunition aboard U.S. LST (Landing Ship, Tank). Tanks roll into LCT (Landing Craft, Tank). Soldiers clean guns and ammunition on deck of ship. Barges at dock. Troops loaded in assault boats are taken to waiting ships off the shore.
Allied invasion of Normandy, France during World War II. A patrol craft passes in the English Channel. A DUKW (amphibious truck) at sea. A Coast Guard officer wearing a foul weather jacket and a blue hat looks through binoculars. The officer smokes a cigar. The bow of a Landing Craft Infantry underway at sea. A U.S. Coast Guard officer takes a bearing with a magnetic compass. Two soldiers on a 20 mm gun mount as one of them wears goggles. An aircraft flies overhead. Two U.S. Navy TBM Mariner aircraft pass overhead. Church services being conducted aboard a ship. A man plays an organ as an officer conducts the service. A congregation of coast guard men and sailors at the church services.
Allied invasion of Normandy, France during World War II. A navy band plays various musical instruments on the deck of a ship underway in the English Channel. Sailors listen to the music. The sailors play saxophone and other instruments. A sailor sings into a microphone. A bass fiddle player at the microphone and the rest of the band in the background.
Allied invasion of Normandy, France during World War 2. A Landing Craft Tank underway from Portland Harbor. Portland breakwater in the background and ships anchored behind the breakwater. Four LCTs underway. An LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel) hung out over the side of a transport ship. An LCT passes in the background. Normandy task force underway at sea. Two LCTs with barrage balloons aboard them. Ships at anchor in Weymouth bay. An LST (Landing Ship Tank) underway at sea. A transport ship sends a blinker signal to another ship in the background.
Allied invasion of Normandy, France during World War II. Normandy task force including landing crafts underway in the English Channel. An LCT(Landing Craft Tank), an LCI (Landing Craft Infantry) and an LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel) underway in rough seas. The LCI dead at water and three LCTs underway in the background. Soldiers attach a block to a LCVP. An LCVP alongside a transport ship as it tries to back over it. The LCVP fails to back over the transport ship and moves away. A hook being secured to boat falls of the LCVP. The boat falls hooked onto the LCVP and the LCVP being hoisted away. A man climbs a Jacob's ladder onto a boat boom with an LCVP below. A boat crew climbs a Jacob's ladder. An LCM (Landing Craft, Mechanized) alongside a transport ship.
A landing craft labeled "US 51" is seen from its starboard side, with cargo in tow and an American flag flying from its mast. There are also more identical ships in the background, all sailing in the English Channel towards Normandy, France in advance of the D-Day invasion of France. The camera cuts to another direction, which shows many more of the same ship, some also with cargo in tow. In this shot, there is land off in the distance, and a few barrage balloons in the sky above the LCIs. The final shot is of a long convoy of ships far off in the distance.