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May 8, 1958

Reverend Charles D. Reed
The First Methodist Church
120 North Pickaway Street
Circleville, Ohio

Dear Reverend Reed:

Thank you very much for your letter of April 16 and for your
willingness to help us with Cornelius Ryan’s forthcoming book about
D-Day. As the "Second Army Sentinel” my not have explicitly stated,
this will not be another strategic history of the whole Invasion opera-
tion but a story of the twenty-four hours of D-Day as men lived them
and remembered them. To build such a story, we can only go to those
men and if they are willing, invade their memories. You, as a chaplain
on Omaha Beach, must have been and continue to be acutely aware of the
human suffering and beauty in which we are most interested.

Mr. Ryan is presently in Europe trying to get the project
underway there. He will return shortly, and in the late spring or
early summer of this year, he will interview many of the people who
offer to contribute to the book. In the meantime since we are dealing
with such a tremendous operation and with literally hundreds of people,
we are keeping an individual file on each person who contributes to
the book. We have assemblied the enclosed questions in the hope that
they will, help to recollect some long-forgotten incidents, as well as
to indicate the sort of information which we are seeking; and we hope
further that if you are willing to help us, you will complete this rec-ord
and return it to me at your earliest convenience.

In Mr. Ryan’s absence I should be very grateful if you would
let me know when and where you might be available for interview during
the next two or three months, for I am sure that Mr. Ryan will want to
talk with you himself. Though the question sheets which I am sending