Box 024, folder 11: Jon A. Farrell

FARRELL, Jon A.

Canadian 3rd Div.

Box 24, #11

Ack 24/5/58 {underline] THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY [end underline]

D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 -- MIDNIGHT JUNE 6

What is your full name? J.A. FARRELL

What is your present address? 7 Swan Studio 69 Deodar Road London, S.W.15.

Telephone number: VANDYKE 6253

What was your unit, division, corps? Storemont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders 9th Brig. 3rd Div. (Canadian)

Where did you land and at what time? Berniers-sur-Mer (10 a.m.)

What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? PTE. 34.

Were you married at that time? Yes

What is your wife's name?

Did you nave any children at that time? No.

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? May 1944

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? Congested and uncomfortable Yes

Were there any rumours aboard ship? (Some people remember hearing that the Germans had poured gasoline on the water and planned to set it afire when the troops came in.) There are [underline] always [end underline] rumors at such times.

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? Yes

2. Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? Yes Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? No

Were you wounded? No. How were you wounded?

Do you remember what it Was like — that is, do you remember whether you felt any pain or were you so surprised that you felt nothing?

Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it may not have seemed amusing at the time? Or anything unexpected or outof-place? Yes

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? Yes.

3. In times of great crisis, people generally show either great ingenuity or self-reliances; others do incredibly strange or stupid things. Do you remember any examples of either? Yes

Do you know of anybody else who landed within the 24 hours (midnight 5 June to midnight 6 June) either as infantry, glider or airborne troops, whom we should write to?

What do you do now? Broadcaster and writer.

Please let us have this questionnaire as soon as possible, so that we can include your experiences in the book. We hope that you will continue your story on separate sheets if we have not left sufficient room. Full acknowledgement will be given in a chapter called "Where They Are Now.11

Cornelius Ryan Joan O. Isaacs The Reader's Digest

[underline] Canadian [end underline] 8 MAY 1958 7 Swan Studio, 69 Deodar Road, Putney, S.W.15, May 7th, 1958.

Telephone: VANdyke 6253.

Advertiser, Box B. 1084, The Times, E.C.4.

Dear Sir :

As a private in 'I' Section, HQ. Coy., The Storemont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, 9th Brigade, Third Division of Canadian Forces, I landed [crossed out] landed [end crossed out] at Bernier-sur-Mer at about 10 a.m. on June 6th - our objective: Carpiquet Airfield, which we were to have taken by 6 p.m. that .day.......I have some vivid memories of those first few days in Normandy.

I am a writer and broadcaster, and I've kept some notes and scripts, and, I think, a published story, written at the time.

Phone me if you like, almost any time.

Q.S. Yours sincerely, [signed] Jon Farrell Jon Farrell. Q. 9/5