John Henry Shreves was born February 2, 1911 in the small town of Pine Grove, West Virginia. His parents were John and Rosa (Soval) Shreves. He was married to Ardith Phoebe Shreves and they had two children, Martha and Frank. The family lived in Fairmont, West Virginia during WWII. He signed up for his draft card in 1940. He was 29 and employed at the Works Progress Administration. After boot camp he was assigned to an amphibious training base and then to the LCI(L) 232.

LCI (L) 232** was a 158-foot long landing craft** with a crew of 28 men and was armed with four 20-milimeter guns and two .50-caliber machine guns. The crew had already participated in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and Anzio when LCI (L) 232 was sent to Cardiff, Wales. The ship underwent repairs and maintenance at Cardiff while the crew was given time to relax a little. Although no official orders had been given the crew knew a major invasion was imminent and that Normandy was the probable location. “We hadn’t been told but we knew,” reported one crewmember.

Shortly after midnight on 6 June the massive, allied convoy headed for the coast of France. LCI (L) 232 reached its destination about 2 a.m. and waited for daybreak about 12 miles offshore. With the destroyer USS O’Brien as escort, LCI 213 and 21 other LCIs of Flotilla 2 began their approach to Utah Beach. The two columns of amphibious ships began encountering beach obstructions 1000 yards from the beach. They had been warned that many stakes were tipped with stellar mines. Channels to their landing zone had not been cleared. It was decided to disembark their troops on to smaller LCMs and LCVPs that could better negotiate the obstacles and get the troops to shore.

At 1042 all the troops had been successfully disembarked. The flotilla had been lucky to survive heavy fire from the beach and avoid setting off any mines. The lead ship LCI 214 ordered the column to follow closer to the beach. This was an apparent attempt to find a safer approach for the next wave. The attempt failed and 214 turned back out to sea with the 232 and column of LCIs following close behind. Officers on the 214 heard a loud explosion and turned in time to see the 232 get blown out of the water by a mine. It immediately rolled over and began to sink. Those below deck never had a chance. The ship sank with hull facing up within five minutes.

Only 13 men from the crew of 28 survived. Shreves was not one of them. All the survivors suffered some type of wound. The rest of the crew either went down with the ship or were blown out to sea. Fifteen shipmates were initially declared missing in action. Survivors were able to confirm the death of some of their shipmates. Shreves was declared KIA on 6 June 1944.

A West Virginias newspaper, The Intelligencer Wheeling News Register published this story on June 6, 2020.

“Thirty-eight West Virginians lost their lives in fighting during D-Day and many more participated in the invasion. These men were like many of the thousands of soldiers that came from across the United States — citizen soldiers.

They were not raised and groomed to become fighters. They were farmers, miners, college students, and factory workers. Despite this, men from communities across West Virginia showed up when their country called upon them — and some made the ultimate sacrifice.

Men like John Henry Shreves of Fairmont, who served as a Seaman First Class for the U.S. Navy and whose landing craft was hit by Nazi shore batteries off Utah Beach. He is listed as being buried at sea.”

The LCI(L) 232 was actually blown up by a mine, but the recognition by one of his home state newspapers 76 years later speaks volumes for how this sailor and other WV veterans are remembered.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author. Click on the author’s name located at the bottom of the story page next to the words “added by.”.

SOURCES:

FOLDE3.COM

DDAY.ORG

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS

USSLCI.ORG

ELSIE ITEM MAY 2011

NAVSOURCE

Wheeling News Register

John Henry Shreves KIA LCI(L) 232 on D-day