1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Donald N. Lee Page 3

On a Landing Craft Infantry ship before landing on the coast of France
on D-Day June 6, 1944 seven young men signed a piece of paper
that would forever unite their names together.

The piece of paper was a copy of the letter written to and issued to the 175,000 personnel
taking part in the D-Day landings. The letter was written by General Dwight D. Eisenhower
the Supreme Allied Commander and was read by him in a radio speech he gave to the
assembled forces on June 5, 1944. That letter was his Order of the Day for June 6, 1944.

This signed copy of the letter was framed and kept by Donald N. Lee among his most treasured possessions.

Left:

The D-Day letter signed by
seven men who sailed to France
aboard the ship LCI (L)-320
Landing Craft Infantry (Light)
on June 6, 1944.

On the top right is the signature of
Donald N. Lee.

On the top left are the signatures of
top to bottom:

Dave Davis
Quentin Surratt
B.C. Sheehy
R.L. Ware
Aaron U. Trimble
W. K. Scammell Jr.

LCI (L) 320 is seen in this photograph training for the Normandy invasion at Slapton Sands, near Dartmouth, England, date unknown.
The ship is in the background and is partially obscured by Landing Craft Tank (LCT) 305 in the foreground.

Six of the signatures on the letter are the original six officers of Company B 22nd Infantry 4th Infantry Division
who landed with the Company on Utah Beach on D-Day. The seventh signature is the commanding officer
of LCI (L) 320, the ship that landed Company B on the beach.

Donald N. Lee - The owner of the letter. His story is presented on the preceding pages on this website.

Dave Davis - He was from Oklahoma and was drafted into the Army on July 18, 1942. He graduated from
Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1943. He was a 2nd Lieutenant and Rifle Platoon Leader.
The Morning Reports for Company B indicate Davis was wounded on June 11, 1944. Donald Lee recalled Davis
as being wounded in the arm. Davis was later promoted to Captain and became a Company Commander.
Lee saw him again in Germany in April 1945. No further record of him could be found.

William Q. Surratt - He was born in North Carolina on September 6, 1920. Commissioned an officer in the Reserves
from R.O.T.C. out of North Carolina State College. Entered active duty on January 29, 1942. Assigned to Company B
22nd Infantry on November 10, 1943. Injured in action on June 14, 1944. Killed in action in Germany
on April 3, 1945 while serving in Headquarters Company 22nd Infantry. When remembering the officers
of Company B Donald N. Lee called Surratt the "finest officer in the Company".

See the memorial page for William Q. Surratt on this website at the following link:

Bernard Cosmos Sheehy - He was born in Minnesota on March 5, 1916. Joined the Army in 1937
and served in the 3rd Infantry. Graduated from Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia
on December 9, 1942 the same day as Donald N. Lee. Served as a Rifle Platoon Leader in Company B.
On the night of June 10, 1944 Sheehy became a casualty of battle fatigue. Donald Lee was sent by
Captain Aaron Trimble, Commander of Company B to get Sheehy and bring him out of the front lines.
Sheehy was hospitalized in England. He was a heavy smoker but did not smoke for the first 30 days of
his hospitalization. When after 30 days he asked for a cigarette he was told that meant he was cured
of his battle fatigue. Sheehy was returned to duty in a truck battalion and left the Army as a Captain.
He died at the age of 73 on July 30, 1989 and is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, Cloquet, Carlton County,
Minnesota. Photo of Bernard Sheehy taken at his home two weeks before he passed away.

Rufus L. "Mutt" Ware - He was born in Alabama on August 26, 1919. Was an enlisted man in the 31st "Dixie" Division
National Guard. Graduated from Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1942. He was assigned to
Company B 22nd Infantry in June 1943.

Ware and Donald N. Lee were wounded together in the same mortar attack on June 12, 1944. Ware suffered severe
head wounds and was originally thought to have been killed. He was placed with the bodies of dead American soldiers
where he lay for three days. A member of the Graves Registration detail was checking for pulses and found Ware
was still alive. Later when speaking of the day he was wounded Ware remembered the explosion and being thrown
into the air but did not remember coming back down or anything else until he awoke three days later in the aid station tent.

Ware spent over a year in hospitals in England and the United States and returned to Selma, Alabama with
partial paralysis of his left leg. He never learned the name of the Graves Registration soldier who had saved his life.
He married his childhood sweetheart and had two children. In 1970 he became Civil Defense Director in Selma.
He lived his last fifteen years incapacitated by a stroke and died at the age of 68 on July 23, 1988. He is buried at
New Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, Dallas County, Alabama. Photo shows Ware wearing the Good Conduct Medal
(ribbon) that he, Donald Lee and Bernard Sheehy all earned as enlisted men but were not awarded until they were
officers in the 22nd Infantry.

Aaron Underwood Trimble - He was born on October 14, 1913. He was a surveyor from Anniston, Alabama and
received his commission through R.O.T.C. The Army Registers show that Trimble served in the Enlisted Reserve Corps
briefly in 1941 and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Reserves in August 1941. He entered active duty in February
1942 and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on August 8, 1942. The date of his assignment to the 22nd Infantry is unknown
but he was with the Regiment at least by December 1942 as his name is listed in a Company roster on a menu for the
Christmas Dinner of Company A 22nd Infantry at Camp Gordon, Georgia in December 1942. Trimble was promoted to
Captain on May 10, 1944 and led Company B 22nd Infantry ashore on Utah Beach on D-Day as its Commanding Officer.
He became a non-battle casualty due to battle fatigue on June 13, 1944. It was mentioned that he couldn't take the
"screaming meemies". He was sent to a hospital in England. Bernard Sheehy said he saw Trimble while he was in the
hospital himself in England and that Trimble was in bad shape. Trimble must have recovered and been assigned to some sort
of aerial duty because the Army Registers indicate he ended the war with a Distinguished Flying Cross, 8 Air Medals and
2 Purple Hearts. After the war he was given a commission in the Regular Army as a 1st Lieutenant in June 1947 and promoted to:
Captain 1948, Major 1950, Lieutenant Colonel 1956 and to Colonel 1963. Retired as a Colonel December 1968.
Trimble died at the age of 65 on February 1, 1979 and is buried at Serenity Gardens Memorial Park, Largo,
Pinellas County, Florida.

William Kirk Scammell Jr. - He was born in Massachusetts on June 28, 1917. His father was a career
Coast Guard officer who was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1945. Scammell Jr. commanded the
Landing Craft Infantry LCI 320 that landed Company B on Utah Beach on D-Day. He was a
Lieutenant Junior Grade (Lieutenant J.G.) in the Coast Guard at the time. He attended the
University of Washington where he took Naval Science classes and thus most likely received
his commission through R.O.T.C. Scammell Jr. had already commanded LCI 320 in the
invasions of North Africa and Sicily. Donald Lee remarked that Scammell Jr.
"was very calm under the pressure". Scammell Jr. died at the age of 73 and is buried at
Fairmount Memorial Park, Spokane, Spokane County, Washington. The photo of him
is from the University of Washington yearbook for 1936 and shows him as he looked
about eight years before D-Day.

A signature that is missing from the D-Day letter is that of Irving Bernard Abkowitz.

"Abby" Abkowitz was one of the officers of Company B who was scheduled to make the landing
with the Company on D-Day but who at the last minute was detached from the Company and
temporarily assigned to the 4th Signal Company of the 4th Infantry Division in order to monitor
a radio unit. The unit was mounted on a half ton truck and by regulation needed an officer to monitor
incoming and outgoing messages sent and received on it. Abkowitz made the landing on Utah Beach
at the same time as Company B but he and the radio unit were in the same Landing Craft Tank (LCT)
which held the 22nd Infantry Regimental Surgeon Major James Kirtley and his Medical Unit.

Abkowitz was drafted into the Army on October 21, 1942 at New York City. Graduated from
Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia in June 1943 and assigned to Company B
22nd Infantry 4th Infantry Division. After making the D-Day landing Abkowitz remained with
the radio unit for several days and then returned to Company B. He was wounded on June 22, 1944
and was sent to hospital in England until September when he was evacuated back to the United States.
He was released from the hospital in early 1945 and served on active duty at Fort McClellan, Alabama
until his discharge as a Captain in March 1946. He changed his name to Irving B. Abbey and died at the
age of 79 on March 27, 1995. He is buried at Ohev Shalom Cemetery, Orlando, Orange County, Florida.

Had Abby not been assigned to the radio unit for D-Day he would have made the landing on LCI 320
with Company B and his signature would have thus been on the D-Day letter.

The above profiles were comprised mostly from the notes taken by Mark A. Lee when he questioned his father
Donald N. Lee about the men whose signatures are on the D-Day letter. Additional information added by the
website editor.