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[underlined] Morris Henry Magee [end underlined] -- 14th Field Regt. Royal Canadian Artillery
3rd-Canadian Division

Trained for a year in Poole, England and the Isle of Duke near
Glasgow. Knew all this time that when it came, they'd be [inserted] I [end inserted] it.

Were surrounded by barbed wire and noone could leave or go [crossed out] t [end crossed out] out.

Got married by special permission on May 10th, saw his wife for
two days and then not again for 8 months.

Got paid in French francs May 29th, so knew time was near.

On June 1st at 8 p.m. went across the river from Southampton
to Gosport Hampshire.

On June 3rd, had a shower, a nice dinner and a show. A sortof
last liberty. Men still didn't know exactly when, and weren't
sure the time had come.

D-Day was delayed a day, [crossed out] as everyone knows [end crossed out], and on June 4th they
were put aboard the LCTs. Ike decided not to wait another
few weeks for another moon, and in spite of terrible weather
for that time of year, they went ahead with it.

With them in the LCTs they carried no personal effects except
dogtags. He had no pictures of his wife. They did have
boot polish, rations (cans of cigarettes, corned beef, chocolate bars,
pudding like Christmas cake, dog bisquits, stew), razor,
first aid kit, needle and thread, water bottle. Clothes
were waterproofed. There were four tanks with them in the
LCT, leaving little room for the 40 men, since LCTs were
about 55ft by 25. [inserted] Carried grenades & land mines for infantry.
Enough rations to last 2 weeks. [end inserted]
On noon of June 5th they put out to sea.

By 2 o'clock they were past the Isle of Wight and it was then
they broke out the maps of the French coast. They knew then
this was it and they were tense. Noone said anything that
Magee could remember. He said he accepted it, as did
everyone else. After all, they'd trained for a year, and
had known all along they were going. They all hoped for
a "blighty" -- a minor injury that would get them back soon.

After this, [inserted] The sea [end inserted][crossed out] it [end crossed out] got rough -- really rough. Magee, although he
didn't throw up, was very sick. It was worse, he said,
than being in a rowboat on Lake Champlain. He said he
shuddered everytime they hit the waves, which was all t he
time. The waves were about 6 feet high, the sky was over-
cast (LCTs are open), they were in cramped quarters, and
he kept thinking that if they ever did make it to shore
they'd be swamped by water. He [crossed out]
thought to [end crossed out] wanted nothing
more than to get off the LCT, and just sat feeling the
spray of the waves, [crossed out] and [end crossed out] the terrific wind and the awful roll.

Most of the guys either slept around the 4 tanks, stood up in
cubicles, slept in the tanks, or played cards for money.
They had money with them, and Magee remembers thinking
how ironic it was that they had all that money and
couldn't spend it. They also had their rations, and a
small gas stove in a corner for tea.