A Guy from Cranford Saves the Day

Today in New Jersey history:

June 8, 1776: The First and Second Battalions, New Jersey Continental Line, engaged in combat with British forces in Canada.

June 8,1944: The men of the New Jersey National Guard’s 102nd Cavalry, who had floated offshore in an LST for two days, landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day plus two, as the beachhead had been expanded enough to accommodate the unit’s vehicles. In the following weeks, Sergeant Curtis Culin of Cranford and the 102nd devised the “Rhino Plow,” a device that, attached to the front of tanks, cut through the hedgerows of Normandy, vitally assisting the allied armies in breaking out of their beachhead. In the ensuing months, the 102nd fought its way across Europe, on the way gaining the honor of being the first United States unit to enter Paris in August 1944. 

June 8,1987: A gas leak and electrical fire under the Long Branch pier destroyed the structure, a major New Jersey Shore venue that included a ten-thousand-square-foot “haunted mansion” and numerous other attractions, causing eight million dollars worth of damage. The area has been redeveloped into a strip of upscale shops and restaurants known as Pier Village.