Tuscaloosa resident still remembers D-Day ‘like it was yesterday’

Nov. 22--From time to time, Jim Haggerty pulls out a worn leather diary he kept during World War II.

The notebook holds special meaning for the 98-year-old Tuscaloosa resident. In fact, the diary could have very well meant the end of his career in the U.S. Coast Guard, except no one knew about it.

"We weren't supposed to keep a diary in those days," said Haggerty, adding that his superior officers discouraged their subordinates from writing because of the security risks if a diary fell into the hands of the enemy.

The secrecy of having a diary meant Haggerty had to write down his thoughts in a secluded part of the ship. In addition to maintaining a sense of normalcy during the war, Haggerty's reasons for keeping it were less philosophical than one would imagine.

"It was just for the hell of it," he said.

On Tuesday at his home in the Pine Valley Retirement Community, Haggerty opened the diary to some writing he did on June 6, 1944, D-Day, the day U.S. forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France.

"This is the day we've been waiting for," a younger Haggerty wrote. "Twelve thousand paratroopers were supposed to land in France at 2 a.m. We saw the first guns live at 4:30. We haven't heard any planes yet. The water is rough."

On that day, Haggerty and a group of fellow Coast Guard sailors went to Juno Beach to escort the 3rd Canadian Infantry into battle, as well as look for men who had been thrown into the water by enemy fire. They searched for men using an 83-foot United States Coast Guard Sub Chaser 83464, better known as the "464," which was part of the Rescue Flotilla One.

To do their job, there was a standard for how to pick up soldiers out of the ocean.

"You didn't pick anybody who was bleeding from the nose, the mouth and the ears because they were going to die anyway," he said.

That day still haunts Haggerty, which he said still feels like it happened yesterday.

"The worst was seeing dead bodies floating by," he said. "You never forget that."

In 1941, Haggerty had just graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn and had no set career ambitions until his childhood friend, Ralph Tinson, persuaded him to sign up for the Coast Guard with him.

"Back then, you signed up for four years, and he stayed on Ellis Island, which was a training ground, for six weeks," he said. "He was a very good basketball player, so the old man (their skipper) kept him on Ellis Island and I ended up on D-Day."

In the service, Haggerty was a Boatsman 1st Class in charge of making sure the ship deck was secure and that all of the enlisted personnel were where they were supposed to be. Over the next couple of years, Haggerty's boat came under enemy fire, but it did not faze him at the time.

"You just hoped and prayed the guy behind you got it instead of you," he said.

However, Haggerty never had any qualms about the work he had to do during the war.

"You did what you were told," he said. "There were no ifs, ands or buts about it. You were given certain things to do and you did it, otherwise you would end up in the brig."

In addition to his diary, Haggerty also kept a tattered American flag that flew on the Sub Chaser, better known as the "464," during D-Day. Like his diary, he hid the flag in his duffel bag.

"The old man told me to replace the flag," he said. "I was supposed to burn it, but I brought it out when I knew he wasn't looking."

After the war ended in 1945, Haggerty returned to New York. Initially wanting to go to dental school, he entered the insurance business and took a job as an agent with Royal Globe Insurance Co. That job took him to Macon, Georgia, for more than 20 years and to Birmingham for another 20 years. While in Birmingham, he met Marguerite, who has been his wife for nearly 40 years. They have lived in Tuscaloosa for the last 12 years.

"I've always had an immense amount of respect for him and what he did during the war," said Cathy Adams, Haggerty's stepdaughter. "He wasn't just an insurance peddler."

Haggerty said he has lived a good life full of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Through his work in the Coast Guard, he believes he has learned the key to a good life.

"You do what you're supposed to do, be disciplined, look after others and be more concerned for the other fellow than yourself," he said.

Reach Drew Taylor at drew.taylor@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0204.

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