How Martha’s Vineyard Prepared Soldiers for Normandy
Today marks the 81st anniversary of D-Day
Planes roared overhead, dropping paratroopers along the dunes behind the beach to support the ground forces and the medical units swarming in with supplies. Soon they would be doing it for real on another beach somewhere, perhaps in North Africa or along France’s vast coastline, having practiced on our beach. Our boys.
—Excerpt from The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club, a national bestseller, available now
Today marks the 81st anniversary of D-Day. In my research for my latest novel, I was astonished to learn that the US Army had invaded the Vineyard in training exercises to prepare themselves for Normandy, the largest seaborne invasion in history and the turning point in the war that led to the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, it was clear that the Japanese were well ahead of the United States in amphibious ship-to-shore invasions. At a U.S.—U.K. conference in London, Lord Louis Mountbatten suggested assembling battalions of highly trained American amphibious specialists that would receive their initial training in the United States and their final training in England. The U.S. War Department established a boat training center at Camp Edwards, in Falmouth, Massachusetts, brought over several British Army and Navy officers, and placed ads to recruit civilian boat operators from across America. There was an outpouring of volunteers from every part of the country: Masters of Great Lakes vessels; amateur yachtsmen from Long Island and Lake St. Clair. Boatbuilders from small boatyards. Small-town blacksmiths and New York City longshoremen. And the 2nd Engineer Amphibian Brigade was born.
The waters and beaches of Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard were ideal for training the amphibians. The mock invasion of August 1942 was an enormous military exercise executed to test the new amphibious landing craft and commando training. The invasion originated at Camp Edwards, and the top military brass chose the Vineyard’s North Shore for its similarities to Normandy’s rocky coast. The landing craft were manned by the Engineer Brigade, who became known by locals as the Cape Cod Commandos. That nickname stuck and followed them across the Pacific Ocean to Australia, New Guinea, and the Phillipines. Whenever they were in a tight spot, or just lonely and tired, someone would bolster them with a “Come on, you Cape Cod Commandos” and a laugh.
During the “Martha’s Vineyard Maneuevers,” troops clambered out of the boars and up the beaches, simulating a beach landing under hostile fire. They proceeded to the newly built airport to “capture” it, the commandos crawling through the gardens and yards of Vineyard residents.
The mock invasion was a great success, on target and on schedule, and the lessons learned laid the groundwork for tactics later used under battle conditions. Later in the war, local residents rooted for their Cape Cod Commandos as the troops spearheaded campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Normandy, and many islands in the Pacific.
I’m thankful to the wonderful Tom Dresser, who so generously helped me with Vineyard wartime research. When we met at his house for tea, he was surprised to see I’d dog-eared almost every page of his extraordinary book, Martha’s Vineyard in World War II, which he co-wrote with two friends. It includes the Peaked Hill Army base, which a sure-footed hiker can still climb up to today for a breathtaking view of the island.
As we lose the last of our WWII-era citizens, veterans and Holocaust survivors, I believe that it’s tragic that new generations don’t even know what the war was about and why National Socialism was and is so dangerous.
It’s important to me to research and write the history of that era, so future generations will learn and remember what Americans fought and died for.
Today I’m remembering my uncle John “Sonny” Finegan, who left Martha’s Vineyard to enlist in the Army Air Corps in 1941. He became a B-17 ball-turret gunner.
I had no idea what a ball turret gunner was before I started the book research. It’s so dangerous and they pick the skinniest guys for the job.
Sonny was shot down over Messina, Sicily. The only survivor of his downed plane, he was rescued, hidden, and healed by nuns in a convent there, who eventually returned him to his family on the Vineyard, and he went on to marry and raise a family in California.
Do you have a story of a family member who fought in World War II? I’d love to remember them with you today! You can share the story in the comments.
National Bestseller
On Wednesday, I learned that The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club hit the bestseller list! I can’t thank you enough for buying, reading, sharing, and reviewing my new novel. I love hearing from readers at events, on Instagram and Facebook, or here in the comments section on Substack.
At The Book Reporter, critic Rebecca Munro had this to say about the book:
In Kelly’s deft hands and lyrical cadence, a decades-old mystery unfolds, and readers will delight in uncovering the connections between past and present as Mari learns the truth about her history. Pair that with plenty of military intrigue, a forbidden romance, and --- I really can’t say it enough --- a book club subplot, and you have the makings of a perfect book club or summer beach read. It will reinvigorate your faith in the power of female friendships, legacy and, of course, reading. I can’t recall a more immersive book, even in Kelly’s acclaimed backlist, and her Author’s Note gives a clue as to why: she has her own deeply personal connection to the island, and her love for it and its inhabitants is apparent on every single page.
This is the kind of book that you finish and then start reading a second time, just to witness the intricate plotting and fall in love with the characters all over again. Good luck putting it down!
The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club is available now from wherever you usually buy your books: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or your local independent bookstore!
This is the kind of book that you finish and then start reading a second time, just to witness the intricate plotting and fall in love with the characters all over again. Good luck putting it down!
Catch me on tour
Canada and California, I’m headed your way next! Register here for my Bedford, NY event, here for my afternoon tea in Stratford, ON at the Bruce Hotel, and here for lunch in Santa Barbara, CA.
Enter the sweepstakes
My publisher Ballantine is running a giveaway between now and June 10! Five lucky winners will receive a signed copy of The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club as well as a special bookmark and candle. Click here to enter.
Thanks for a wonderful novel and for reinforcing the incredible contributions of the greatest generation. This is remarkable Hidden history indeed! Lamberts cove will never be the same for me now. I’ll imagine all the guys who trained there. And who sacrificed so much. You never hear much about the U-boats and the invasion of our coasts but it was a big deal and very destructive. We put up an enormous effort to defeat this threat. My Dad was a naval aviator in WW2. He was stationed along the east coast of the United States and was a submarine hunter. He flew a dive bomber and each day went up to protect convoys from the U-Boats until the merchant ships were far enough out to be joined by us navy ships and maneuver. He was training to fly fighter planes for the invasion of Japan when the war ended. We owe so much to so many. Thank you for keeping the stories alive!
I just finshed the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club and like your previous novels, so thoroughly enjoyed it. I've ordered The Golden Doves and am eagerly await its arrival. I know it will be just as wonderful as the Lilac Girls, The Paris Roses, and the Sunflower Sisters. The Faraday family was a remarkable for sure.
On another note, my uncle Ray was serving on the USS Luce which was sailing in the Pacific. Ray was 19 years old and the ship's radioman. A Kamakaze attacked the ship and crashed into the
radio room where Ray was. Ray's body was never recovered. I know my Gramp and Gram bore that heartache until the day they died.