The history of the Bunker
(testimonie of Roger Chagnon NOIC's veteran)

L'organisation de la plage


Le débarquement des hommes

On D-Day +1, upon receiving word from the Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDU) or the Army ESB that the bunker was clear of any booby traps, the NOIC men moved in. All radio equipment was taken out of the trucks and relocated to the bunker along with other miscellaneous furnishings. Outside antennas were installed, cables buried in the sand with the help of German POW's and on D-Day+2, the bunker became fully operationnal as a radio communication center. Though the bunker room is relatively small, the group managed to squeeze in about 6 or 7 radio operators and in an adjoining cove, a radio supervisor and a messenger installed themselves to start the first radio watch. Radio operations were based on 3 shifts per day, with men working two 4-hour shifts every day of the week for close to 5 months. The center generally communicated with other invasion beaches (Omaha  Beach); off-shore vessels, various command ships at sea and had the capability of getting messages to any Navy location in the world using its special radio frequency (NSS) which broadcoast continuously around the

clock. Operations continued until October 31, 1944, at which time, all the men went off into different directions depending the walls of the bunker, not knowing that they would be discovered 50 years later. Some men were assigned to mobile units providing support to the crossing of the Rhine, to operations against pockets of resistance in France, to ships at sea and some others, to the U.S. for transfer to the Pacific Theatre.