ELMHURST, Ill., May 18, 2012—The Grand Marshal for Elmhurst’s 94th Memorial Day Parade is Leonard F. Prescott, a decorated World War II veteran who participated in major beachhead invasions in both the European and Pacific theatres while serving as a Petty Officer in the United States Navy.
“It is my honor to be selected to serve as the Grand Marshal,” Prescott said. The parade through downtown Elmhurst will be held on Monday, May 28, starting at 9:30 a.m. Following the parade, a Military Ceremony will be conducted at the Veterans Memorial in Wilder Park at around 11 a.m.
The following story was printed in the Elmhurst Independent on August 11, 2004:
Leonard Prescott was born in Chicago and lived in Elmhurst, Chicago and Texas before returning to Elmhurst as a teen. Prescott joined the Navy in November 1942 and completed boot camp in San Diego, California. From there, he attended diesel motor engineering school on Los Angeles and was later assigned to the USS Thomas Jefferson APA 30, a troop transport ship. The ship could carry 600 sailors and up to 1,800 troops. Its prime purpose was to invade enemy shores to deliver soldiers to the beachhead. The Thomas Jefferson carried 30 landing boats; each measuring 36 feet-long by 100 feet- wide and capable of holding 39 men or a small tank or a jeep and men. A three-man crew operated the landing craft (LCVP, for Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel, or “Higgins Boat”). As a diesel engine Petty Officer, Prescott’s job was to “maintain the motors, keep the boats fueled and in tip-top shape.”
Prescott participated in five invasions. The first, the only nighttime landing, took place in Sicily on July 10,1943.“It was dark, the whole armada approaching the island, quiet as they could, not to upset the enemy,” Prescott recalled. The landing boats hit the shore and the men were “surprised it was so easy,” there were only a few casualties on the beach. While the ship waited offshore, plane engines droned overhead, getting closer. A German dive-bomber shot at them, but the crew fought back and the Thomas Jefferson was not hit. Daylight brought cannon fire from inland Sicily. Cannon balls whistled on either side of them and the captain ordered to take on 500 Italian prisoners and deliver them to the base in Oran, Africa. “The Italians did not want to go,” Prescott remembered with humor. “They heard stories all about America, New York, the streets of Gold – they surrendered to us and wanted to go to America.”
The second invasion was in Salerno on September 10, 1943. When asked how this invasion compared to Sicily, Prescott said, “The landing was just easy for us in the ships and this time, we were not attacked by German aircraft.” After Salerno, the Thomas Jefferson headed to Portsmouth, England, where it landed troops and waited the next mission. On June 6,1944, the USS Thomas Jefferson arrived of the coast of Normandy for the D-Day Invasion.“There were cruisers behind us, battleships behind us, thousands of planes in the air,” Prescott said. “Just like the movies, it’s a big deal.”The soldiers were fired upon as they stormed the beach. Heavy gunfire surrounded them. At night, the sky looked “just like the Fourth of July” with all the tracers and bombs going off. Prescott recalled the rocket barges, “rack after rack of rockets sailing inland beyond the beachhead.” The fighting was fierce and there was death everywhere. The Thomas Jefferson lost men and landing craft returned with casualties and bodies.Prescott was asked if he was thinking about the danger. “No, you just do your job,” he said. “The soldiers that had to go in the little boats were who I felt sorry for.”
The next invasion was in Southern France on August 15, 1944. The mission was to drive the Germans back up north. Leaving Marseilles, the Thomas Jefferson returned to the United States to load up with supplies, landing barges and sailors in Norfolk. There the crew received orders to pick up troops in San Francisco, and head out into the Pacific.
The fifth invasion was in Okinawa on April 1,1945. Prescott’s ship was part of a giant armada of battleships, cruisers and destroyers. He recalled the invasion as “very fierce, because the kamikazes were there.” “Gunfire was everywhere, bombs going up bombs coming down,” he said. Of the kamikaze pilots, Prescott said, “They just as soon go to their heaven by crashing into your ship. It’s the way they were trained… they had no fear.” Prescott participated in the Okinawa’s landing. First, he created a fog around the ship for camouflage. Then Prescott, the engineer of the three-man crew, headed toward the shore with 39 men when, suddenly, about 20 feet from the ship, the huge ramp on the front of the landing barge dropped into the water. The boat was open to the ocean and certain peril! Prescott knew he had to “get the ramp back up before the next wave hits.” He grabbed the winch to crank it up. “It weighed a ton,” he recalled. With the help of another soldier he finally got the ramp back into place. Prescott landed the troops, then returned to the ship for more.
Prescott was discharged from the Navy in October 1945 and returned to Chicago where he became a straight commission salesman. He was one of the first in the city to sell automatic ice cube machines in 1949. He and his wife moved to Elmhurst in 1952 and raised a family of three children. The family has grown to include grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Prescott is an active member of the American Legion (THB Post 187). He had been a past Commander of the Elmhurst Post, past Commander of DuPage County Council, past Commander of the 11th District and vice chairman of the National Americanism Council. At, present he is the Department of Illinois Assistant Chaplain. Prescott’s home office holds pictures of the USS Thomas Jefferson, his crewmates and other war memorabilia. Children’s artwork covers the kitchen door and family pictures grace the walls. These pictures preserve memories of that young veteran and the man he has become.
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