Box 025, folder 04: Robert B. O'Regan

O'REGAN, Robert B.

Canadian 3rd Can. Div.

BOX 25, #4

RCA EXCERPT

For Cornelius Ryan Book about D-day

THOUSANDS OF MEN, ON LAND AND SEA AND IN THE AIR, 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? Robert Brian O'Regan [?Fine?] name

What was your unit and division? Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit 3rd Canadian Infantry Division

Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time? Landed at Beny-sur-Mer - was supposed to land 10 minutes after first wave but due to some confusion we landed about 10.20 a.m.

What was your rank on June 6, 1944? Gunner

What was your age on June 6, 1944? 19 1/2 years

Were you married at that time? No.

What is your wife's name? Jean Elizabeth 0'Regan (British war-bride )

Did you have any children at that time? N/A

What do you do now? Army Public Relations Officer Winnipeg, Man.

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? Early in May or late Apr when we were moved down to the area of Winchester, Eng.

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? Four days on a flat-bottomed LST with tanks and infantry. The channel was rough and inside the LST it was hot and stuffy mainly due to the tankers running their engines each day. I slept out on deck by my motorcycle throughout the trip. It was an American LST and the food was excellent - roast chicken, virginia ham with pineapple rings, ice cream etc., not normal fare in the Army at that time. Other members were on British manned LSTs eating hard tack and canned cold rations. I remember the American ship's officer continually speaking over a loudspeaker and always beginning in a pleasant southern drawl with "Now hear this, now hear this, now hear this."

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). No one knew what to expect. Daily church services were well attended. There was little discussion and much thinking of home and friends sprinkled with silent prayers. Spent our time reading, sleeping, eating and quietly playing cards.

- for Cornelius Ryan 2 -

Your name O'Regan

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? Yes in the form of daily letters to my future wife. On return to England in Jul 45 I found out that instead of keeping the letters, she was throwing them away after reading them. I was unhappy about this, but when in love you can't be angry

Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during landing or during the day? We were fortunate. Of 35 members landing there were no casualties. I remember picking up a roll of newsreel film on the beach marked Roll No. 1 by Sgt. Bill Grant, a friend. I searched the faces of the dead and wounded on the beach for him, [crossed out]Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties:[end crossed out] and not until much later, did I discover him alive and well - he had dropped the film in the confusion which seemed to exist for the first day with no established front-line. I distinctly remember, and probably always shall, seeing my first dead German soldier. He was very well-dressed as if he was on leave, and appeared to be a wax statue such as you would see in Madame Tussaud's Waxworks Museum. He was lying on his back in front of a trench on the beach, almost as if he was at attention, with one arm extended (as if he was making a right turn in an auto) and in his hand an unexploded potato masher. He had a cleanxbullet hole directly in the centre of his forehead with no blood around it.

Were you wounded? No.

Do you remember what it was like--that is, do you remember whether you felt any pain or were so surprised that you felt nothing? N/A

Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it may not have seemed funny at the time? My memory fails me here.

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else? I recall seeing the Canadian and German wounded sitting quietly against the beach wall with blankets over their knees as they awaited evacuation. I believe we were all oblivious to what was going on around us during the first few hours.

- for Cornelius Ryan 3 - Your name O'Regan

In times of great crisis, people generally show either great ingenuity or self-reliance; others do incredibly stupid things. Do you remember any examples of either from D-Day?

I remember waiting [?aboard?] the LST until it was our turn to go in. To our right front there was an LST hung up on a sandbar and several [crossed out] [illegible] [end crossed out] towing attempts by an other vessel failed as the towing cables repeatedly snapped. This scene seemed to provide laughter to all of us on our LST. Immediately to our right there was HMS Rodney flanked by I believe the HMS Prince of Wales and both of them firing inland. At first we thought they were firing into the middle of the Canadian-German positions but as beach smoke or mist lifted we could see the[crossed out] t [end crossed out] shells exploding on high ground a few miles in from the beach.

Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944? Somewhere in the Channel surrounded by ships as far as you could see on the horizon.

Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944? In a field a few miles inland and seemingly surrounded by snipers coupled with the wall of flak which filled the sky along with German aircraft

Do you know of anybody else who landed within the 24 hours of D-day, June 6, as infantry, glider or airborne troops, or who took part in the air and sea operations, whom we should write to? Many but addresses unknown

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;" YOUR NAME AND VOCATION OR OCCUPATION WILL BE LISTED.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.

W.A. Milroy Lt.-Col. Director of Public Relations (Army) Cartier Square, Ottawa, Ontario