Public Rite for Hundreds Who Died in Secret : Military: Survivors and family gather at Arlington Cemetery to remember Exercise Tiger. The World War II training disaster was hushed up for decades.

John Howard Doyle died a quiet hero, forbidden to talk about how he saved 132 soldiers and sailors from the frigid English Channel in one of the least-known Allied disasters of World War II.

The Navy captain, who refused orders to flee a German attack during a secret D-day rehearsal, was publicly remembered at a Veterans Day ceremony Friday at Arlington National Cemetery.

A plaque also was dedicated to the 749 soldiers and sailors Doyle and his men could not rescue, those who “suffered and perished on April 28, 1944,” in the early-morning hours near Slapton Sands, England.

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“Although Exercise Tiger ended in tragedy, the lessons learned contributed to the success of the D-day landings and the ultimate triumph of democracy over tyranny in World War II,” President Clinton said in a statement read to a gathering of 300 survivors, family and friends.

A fir tree was planted during the ceremony, and a wreath laid at the Tomb of the Unknowns. The bodies of many who died weren’t recovered from the channel, and about 400 were buried in England.

In 1987, an Exercise Tiger memorial was dedicated at Slapton Sands, about 175 miles southwest of London.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower threatened to court-martial anyone who revealed the training debacle. More members of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division died that day than in the Normandy invasion itself on June 6, 1944; it resulted in the second-highest number of U.S. fatalities in a single day of the war, topped only by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Some facts leaked after D-day, but the whole story wasn’t told until recent years.

Dr. Eugene Eckstam, a survivor from Monroe, Wis., said Doyle ignored orders to retreat from the torpedo boats that sank Eckstam’s ship and disabled two others. Doyle asked the crew of his amphibious ship to rescue their brothers-in-arms.

“Those of us in the water did not expect to live,” a tearful Eckstam said, his voice breaking. “Our prayers were answered by the brave and courageous decision by Capt. John Doyle. He’s the reason I’m here today.”

Doyle died two years ago after a quiet life in Missouri. He married twice, raised a son and ran a small vending machine business, said his sister, Peggy Doyle.

He never spoke of Exercise Tiger.