Box 023, folder 54: Henry L. Churchill

II and to glide in and take a bridge intact which they did with only the loss of one glider. We took off not long after but took some time to get into formation and we had the lights on until we got close to the French coast and as soon as we got over the coast one fellow said to me that engine is on fire see those sparks come from it. after looking at it a second longer I said that isnt sparks I am afraid it is tracer bullets but they weren't hitting us and in another second it was time to go and out we went. When I got out in the air and my shute open I had to release a kit bag of my leg to the end of a twenty ft rope and in doing it, it got away from me and when it did it broke as it had 110 lbs in along with my rifle an ammunition when I hit the gound I knocked my self out and when I came too I did find my kit bag but the rifle [crossed out] but [end crossed out] stock was broken off but the six motor bombs I had in the bag did not go off I always had a desire for action and [crossed out] wen [end crossed out] when I came to the thought came to me [crossed out] whell [end crossed out] well here you are just where you wanted to be in action with tracer bullets going every where and not another sole around that you could see The flare were every where as well. I later found out That Jim Adamson the next man ahead of me was wounded by a pistol in back and the man ahead of him never got out of his harness as they found his

III grave later on with his steel helment on it with a bullet hole in it. When I came to I found myself in an irrigation ditch and I had an awful headache. I moved along the ditch for some time and then I had to lay down as my head ached so, so I decided to not remain in the ditch as the Germans would perhaps be using it for cover so I moved of into the wheat field as it was about knee deep and it gave good cover. after I had layed down for a while I felt better and I started along again [crossed out] whith [end crossed out] with my rifle with no stock but I could fire it if be had to. after I had gone some distance I heard voices so ducked into a little clump of bushes and they got closer then I recognized their voices as english so I spoke to them and one was Arthur [?Overby?] Harperville P.O. Manitoba and he had a machine gun with no ammunition as it takes three men to man it an carry its ammunition. The other man was an English man with a [?revolver?] so we werent very well armed but we hadnt gone very far before we found a rifle and small pack with food in it that one of our boys had left for some reason. we moved on in the darkness for a few hundred yards when we made out a road and as we approached it we made out in the opposite ditch the form of three steel helmets and about that time I heard the word Punch and it startled us so that I couldnt think of the pass word

IV to give them and I knew we didn't have time to wait so I said "dont shoot." I was supposed to say Judy. I think I have given you some information and yet there is more I am afraid I have used The word I [?so?] much but I dont mean it That way. I am not after Glory for my self but I knew a wonderful lot of boys and they wern't after Glory either, we arrived back in Halifax after the war and we paraded through the street and they said there were more to greet us Than when the King & Queen visited the city There is a love story about all this too That means a lot to me I live about eleven miles from the town of Yarmouth going north. I can be interviewed any evening at my home in Port Maitland

P.S. Please excuse any errors or poor writing

Sincerly yours, Henry L Churchill

March 25, 1959

Mr. Shane Mackay The Reader's Digest Association (Canada) Ltd. 1015 Beaver Hall Hill Montreal, Canada

Dear Mr. Mackay: Signed

As we do not have Mr. Henry Lyman Churchill's address (Pvt. lst Can. Parachute Btn attached to the British 6th AB Div) we would appreciate it immensely if you [crossed out] will be kind enough to [end crossed out] forward the enclosed release to him for his signature.

The material in his questionnaire and letter is being edited for use in the book and we look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

aw for Cornelius Ryan encl.

[inserted] Release with PG [end inserted]

I agree that Mr. Cornelius Ryan, his licensees and/or assigns, has all rights whatsoever in the questionnaire and letter from me regarding D-Day.