By JULE GARDNER
On D-Day, John Rubay, 3rd Class Petty Officer
in the Coast Guard, stood on the tank deck of his ship with the cook. Shots came whizzing close to their heads, ""so we got the hell out of there.
""Must've been a halfway decent cook, though,
because he survived that day,'' said Rubay.
Rubay, 70, a native of Corry, wanted to join the Navy. However, he flunked the test because of a hernia and settled for the Coast Guard, he said.
On the 50th anniversary
of D-Day, he spoke up because ""some people don't even know the Coast Guard was involved.''
His ship, the LSD 17, was a flatbed ammunition carrier. During D-Day and after escalation of the war, they made 19
trips from England to France.
Some of those voyages accompanied by ""battle wagons firing right over us with 16 inch guns.
""We landed high and dry on the beach on D-Day. It was completely dark
and we were told to make it stay that way. We couldn't even light up a cigarette.''
After a lot of close calls, said Rubay, ""D-Day is something you want to forget after 50 years.''
After transfer of 500
tons of ammo., his ship was not needed and they got orders to return to the States.
""That was a fun trip. Those flat bed tubs don't travel too good on the sea, you know, and we hit a hurricane between
Bermuda and the Azores.''
They were almost washed away by 40-foot waves, but managed to make it to Norfolk, Va. in 19 days (a trip usually made in about seven), he said.
Food had to be rationed to the bare minimum.
""We were never so happy to see Norfolk.''
Rubay received notice that his name and hometown are going up on the memorial wall in Caines, France.
