Status - John Skinner - USS Daly:
USS Daly (DD-519) -New Guinea
June 4th: Arrived Biak Island for patrol duty with a cruiser-destroyer force. Under attack by Japanese dive bombers at 5:40 PM. Minor damage to two cruisers from near misses, no damage to Daly. Resumed patrol duty afterward.
June 5th: Attack by enemy torpedo bombers at 1 AM; ships fired anti-aircraft guns as well as 5" guns. Patrol rest of day, call to General Quarters three times due to radar contacts later identified as friendly.
June 6th: Patrol early morning before returning to Hollandia; reached there around 6 PM. Fueling in the evening.
June 7th: Anchored all day until 11 PM, then starting return to Biak Island area for continued patrol.
Fighting continued
on Biak Island. US forces were attempting to capture three existing
airfields on the southern part of the island. The Japanese forces were
on high ground above, so the advance was slow going. The Navy planned
to use the airfields to support the invasion of the Marianas.
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In the Central Pacific, the various task forces for the invasion of the Marianas were now in motion, moving toward the mid-month invasion of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam.
On June 6th, the D-Day invasion of Normandy took place on 5 beaches. The Allies suffered heavy losses but were able to establish beachheads in all attack areas. German reinforcements had been withheld in anticipation of an attack in the Pas-De-Calais area.
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More Information:
- Official Navy Chronology, pp. 491-493.
- New Guinea and the Marianas, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 123-125, 170-173.
- War at the End of the World, James P. Duffy, pp, 328-340.
- Events of June, 1944
- Logbooks of the US Navy at the National Archives, USS Daly, DD-519, June 1944
NEXT POST: JUNE 11TH
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