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- for Cornelius Ryan 2 -
Your name John F. White

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? Many of my friends were killed and wounded that day. I had been
in this 2nd Battalion for nearly 2½ years and had gotten to know most of the
men and officers pretty well. However, my closest friend and roomate during the time I
was in the outfit was killed on the second day.

Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became
casualties? My roommate mentioned above was the Executive Officer of Co. G and
we were not together on the incasion since he was in another boat. However, we
did talk a great deal on the ship before we got into the small boats and I remember
that we said we would see each other soon after the actual invasion and refofmed
the company. I also remember quite vividly that all during our association his main
aim in life had been to get this war over with so he could return to his home and
finish out the few hours he had to go with his masters degree in mathematics and then
teach school. He was a fine man and his death upset me more than any other aspect of
the whole war. His name was Arthur V. Hendricks, 1st Lt. from Albilene Texas.
Post D-Day

Were you wounded? Not on D day, but later at St.Lo.

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

Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even
though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time?
This did not appear to be very funny at the time, but even though we had our weapons
covered by a plastic type bag during the run in, many of them failed to function on
the beach and it was nevessary to find cover behind an old wall and clean our
weapons so that they would fire. I remember thinking at the time that this was a
heck of a time to be participating in a session on care and cleaning of the basic
infantry weapon. Actually, we were quite a bit disorganized at first and we were
kept busy trying to locate ourselves on our maps and regroup as we had originally
been organized. That first day seemed to go by an awful hurry. I can recall some
rather amusing events which took place later after the beachhead was established,
but as I understand it you are primarily interested here in the events happening
on D Day June 6.

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck
you more than anything else?
There were many incidents of heroism on that day, but I can't seem to be able to
pin any particular one down in my mind that happened then. The main effort during
the day was to get inland off of that beach and as fast as possible.