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- for Cornelius Ryan 2 -

Your name Gordon D. McDonald

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No

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? Yes - on numerous occasions during our
amphibious training in England, my very good friend
and wire chief of my platoon would comment that " once we
get on that beach that would be the bloody end." On the
way in to the beach, we were standing together in the
L C M & he made the same comment. He was the first
man killed from our boat team.

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? --

Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even
though it may not have seemed funny at the time? No

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic or simply memorable, which struck
you more than anything else? [crossed out] No [end crossed out]

Late in the afternoon of D-Day I recall talking
with the First Sgt of our Regimental Medical
Detachment. He was covered from head to foot
with blood. I inquired about his brother
also with the same medical detachment and he said
that the last time he had seen him, he was
crawling into a mine field after a wounded G.S.
There was an explosion and he assumed the
brother was killed. I might add that during
D Day he alone completed the amputation
of some 'G.S''s ' leg with a pair of surgical
scissors. He found out later that his brother
had not been killed.