Page 6

- Purnell 5 -

gone through it and dug in on the far side. In through a draw
behind them went the 3rd Bn. of the 116th; each took the other for
the enemy, and Lt , Col. Purnell [inserted] coming up through the 116th, [end inserted] had to skirt a field and get into
the area held by the 115th in order to stop the fight. He was
without identification-- "You just had to take a chance."

That night on Omaha Beach rows of wounded lay against the sea wall,
stranded by high tide and a heavy wind. Unavoidably, they were
there until morning, when the Navy might get in. Sometime during
the night, the medical supplies ran out. It was "pretty awful."

Meanwhile, on foot, Lt. Col. Purnell and others of the Hq. group
of the 29th sought out the scattered elements of the division.
By morning, they had a clear picture of where the 115th Regiment
was. They knew that the first battalion of the 116th had been
practically wiped out; that the [crossed out] regimental [end crossed out] battalion commander and most of
the company officers were dead (Company A of the 1st Bn., under
Fellers, having lost all of its officers); that the second bn.
was in good shape, well inshore, and that the 3rd Bn. was intact.

On June 7, then, they were ready to get going. The next bad time
came on the evening of June 7: there was a heavy artillery attack
while the 175th Regiment was moving in.

About 2/3 of the men in the 29th are from Maryland; l/3 from Virginia (now, not then)
[inserted] At time of D-Day, while there was a [crossed out] hard [end crossed out] substantial core of [?lad. cd?] lte.
men, the bulk of the men were replacements, drafters etc.
from all parts of the country. [end inserted]
Most officers not Regular Army, but members of National Guard. Gehrhardt,
however, was regular Army. [inserted] OK-- [?as of?] d-day [end inserted]