ryan_box023-tld_f54_02

1st Can. Para BN Can Ext

1st/3Bge

For Cornelius Ryan
Book about D-day

THOUSANDS OF MEN, ON LAND AND SEA AND IN THEAIR, PARTICIPATED IN THE
INVASION OF NORMANDY BETWEEN MIDNIGHT JUNE 5, 1944 AND MIDNIGHT JUNE 6,
1944. IF YOU WERE ONE OF THEM, PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.

What is your full name? Henry Lyman Churchill PARA

What was your unit and division? 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion
attached to the British (6th Airborne Division)

Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time? I arrived in Normandy
one or two minutes after one o'clock in the night
outside of a littel village of Varaville about 10 miles north of Caen

What was your rank on June 6, 1944? Private

What was your age on June 6, 1944? 30 years

Were you married at that time? no

What is your wife's name? Bessie

Did you have any children at that time? no.

What do you do now? fish

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? we knew
we were going to be in on the invasion several months before.

What was the trip like during the crossing of the Channel? Do you
remember, for example, any conversations you had or how you passed
the time? Every one seemed to be too much wraped up
in there own thought to have too much to say, no one
seemed to be nervous. I remember the [crossed out] piolit [end crossed out] pilot and co-[crossed out] piolit [end crossed out] pilot
looking back at us in silence and they seem to be say-
ing to them selves I am just as well pleased I am staying
aboard. we had the lights on until we got a few minutes
from the French coast and then they said to put them out
and every one seemd to look at one another and there was a
funny feeling seemed to come over one, our faces were all black and
hands as well in this way they wouldn't show up in the light

What were the rumors on board the boat, ship or plane in which you made
the crossing? (Some people remember scuttlebut to the effect that the
Germans had poured gasoline on the water and planned to set it afire
when the troops came in).
The greatest amount of conversation was where we would make
our landing and I always remember one soldier remarks in
that he said we would land and cut of one of the penin-
sula's either Brest or Cherbourg and that is what we did.