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-Purnell 3-

Normandy. Silent, dark in early morning light, but moving under
their own power, part of Force Mulberry. Looming British battleship
with great tall towers seemed especially strange. (What time was this?)
just about daylight -3-4A.M.

At about 3 am., just at first light, officers gathered on deck of
LCI....Lt. Col. Purnell owed Colonel Donovan, Catholic Chaplin of
the 29th Division, 8000 francs from a poker game [inserted] paid on Beach ?[end inserted] (had the game been
running [inserted] No - [?all?] since boarding ships. Too busy before then. [end inserted] more or less since the first days of June?).... The Division
G-2 was concerned about German buzzbombs, launching sites for which
had been identified at Cherbourg. Intelligence code for these
was CROSSBOW. Official G-2 estimate was that buzzbombs would be
used against invasion force. Officers on deck of LCI thinking
about this, thinking "Maybe they're going to fire the CROSSBOW's
pretty soon!"....

Preceding vessels had mineswept channels to beaches; there was a
big red buoy at the head of each run. Their LCI didn’t arrive off
the beach until 9 or 10 am. Day was clear, breeze brisk. From
where they were in the water, they could see no German defenders--
only Americans falling as they hit the beach.

By the middle of the day, a hill on Omaha Beach caught fire. There
had been great controversy at Supreme Headquarters about whether
or not a smokescreen should be laid. By accident, a fire started
[crossed out] in front [end crossed out] just West of St. Laurent draw-- [inserted] and created rather heavy smoke screen [end inserted] and that was where the penetration
beyond the beach was made [crossed out] . [end crossed out] by 2nd Bn. 116th Inf.

Their LCI went in part way with those carrying the 26th Regt.of