Saltash Passage and the US Army base, 1944

In January 1944,the US army set up camp at Vicarage Road in preparation for the D-Day landings. Altogether, it housed 60,000 troops on their way to the Normandy landings. It was also a reception centre for returning troops from July 1944. The whole operation was highly secret and from May 1944, anyone who wanted to visit relatives in the area had to apply for a permit and would be escorted to the address by military police. They would also have to give a specific time when they would be leaving. The mission was codenamed Operation Overlord. The codename for the many US bases around Plymouth was 'sausages'. During this time, the river was full of ships loading men and equipment. One day the river was full of ships and the next day, it was completely empty as the troops headed towards the beaches of Normandy. Children in the area loved the American troops and would pester them for sweets, chewing gum, chocolate, food and cocoa etc. The Americans weren't affected by rationing and were very generous to the locals especially the children. In the city, they even paid for and organised parties for them. The large majority of troops in Plymouth were from the 29th Armoured division which went on to land at the Omah and Utah beaches. Omah beach was the codename for one of the main landing points for the troops on 6 June 1944. Unfortunately, it is where the Americans suffered their heaviest casualties. The Vicarage Road camp was decommissioned in September 1945. Tamar Terrace was later renamed Normandy Way and Vicarage Road was renamed Normandy Hill to commemorate the troops that passed this way on their way to the D-Day landings. A monument stands in Saltash Passage to commemorate where a slipway was built for the departure of the US troops. They constructed slipways or 'hards' which were known as 'chocolate box hards' to the troops. Sections can still be seen there, some are scattered along the foreshore. A tablet commemorating the event was unveiled on Normandy Hill, known as US Army Route 23, by the Mayor of Cherbourg in May 1947. A memorial was later erected in the gardens and the plaque on it reads: 'This tablet marks the departure from this place of units of the V and V11 corps of the United States Army on the 6th June 1944 for the D-Day landings in France and was unveiled by His Excellency John Hay Whitney, the Ambassador of the United States of America. May 1958'.