Wartime Memories WWII Vet Remembers Sinking
Submitted by N.O.V.A. July 2005
Times Picayune	11-8-1998


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At 24, Ensign Milton Bienvenu Jr. was the "old man" on board the YMS304, a U.S.
minesweeper in the English Channel clearing the area between the French beaches
designated Omaha and Utah for the D-Day invasion a month before.

After a long talk with Luis Annunciata, a young homesick sailor, Bienvenu bid him good
night and continued deck watch until around 4 a.m.

At 9:30 a.m. July 30, 1944, the YMS304 hit a German "oyster" mine and the Reserve
native's duties as officer in charge became extraordinary.

The sweeper bowed up, broke in half and sank in 63 seconds. "We later found out that it
sank faster than any other ship in World War II. It set a record," Bienvenu said.
"Basically mine sweepers are not supposed to sink so we had felt pretty safe."

However the Germans, in a desperate measure, had begun using explosives deemed illegal
by the Geneva Convention.

The ship suffered 100 percent casualties with two dead, five missing and 29 wounded.
Bienvenu suffered a head injury that closed his left eye. He still considers himself
lucky. "The door blew open instead of jamming or I'd still be there with Annunciata,"
he said.

Bienvenu, 78, of LaPlace, recently recalled these vivid memories as Americans
nationwide prepared to celebrate Veterans Day on Wednesday.

Against Bienvenu's warnings to stay away from certain vulnerable areas of the ship,
Annunciata chose to sleep down in the bilges near the lulling noise of the gyrocompass.
"I told him that was forbidden because if we hit a mine, it's completely gone,"
Bienvenu recalled.

"When the ship blew up the mine was directly below Annunciata and the ship broke in
half and he was trapped in the wreckage," Bienvenu said. "I could see him but I
couldn't get to him.

"As I drifted away the (American) flag was the last thing you could see," Bienvenu
said. "The last thing I thought about was that Annunciata went down with that flag and
he died for that flag."

As senior surviving officer it was Bienvenu's responsibility to look after his men.
Using debris as flotation devices he led some of the casualties to the YMS378, which
was only 300 yards from the sunken ship. Two of the sailors had been badly wounded and
with a bit of rope he secured them to himself and towed them to safety. The second ship
had also been severely damaged in the explosion and was sinking even as Bienvenu and
his men were helped aboard.

A British crash boat picked up several survivors and a French fishing vessel rescued
two crew members. The YMS381 soon arrived and carried them to a field hospital in
France.

Bienvenu received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for his efforts to save his men.
A couple of years ago he returned to the invasion coast. He visited the memorial at the
Normandy American Cemetary near St. Laurent-sur-Mer and found the name of Luis
Annunciata.

"I've lived a complete life since then and I often think of him," Bienvenu said. "He
was only one (of those who died during the war), but everyone there was doing his
best."