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- for Cornelius Ryan 2 -
Your name Francis J. House
Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day?
I did not keep a diary, however I believe I can remember
most of the events
Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or
during the day?
to my knowledge I don't know of any killed, a few were hurt.
In this kind of operation facts are usually hard to get
Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became
casualties?
the men were understandably anxious. I believe that if
they had been better briefed and knew more about the situation
some of this anxiety would have been relieved. I do not
believe the men were genuinely afraid nor do I think they
were overly heroic. because of their lack of information they
didn't have any choice but to wait and see.
Were you wounded? I was wounded 3 times in world war II
however I escaped injury during the normandy landing
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?
a gun shot wound is usually more of a surprise than anything
else. I can remember seeing the blood running and could not
believe that it was me who was hurt. a shrapnel wound can be very painful
Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even
though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time?
our company had a 1st Sgt by name of Norcop a veteran of
the first war with many years in the army. on the landing,
I being a young healthy man thought I would be among the first
ashore. we had waist deep water for about 250 yards
plus enemy fire to contend with. as I neared the beach there
was the 1st Sgt standing on the beach all alone waiting for
his comany to come in.
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck
you more than anything else?
For me seeing the bodies in grotesque positions
in the swamps atop (Utah? Omaha Beach) was hard to believe at
that time these were mostly German with all to many
Americans with them. I got the impression of wax
figures, but I was soon to realize this was not so.
death was so common place that little attention was
paid even when an acquaintance was the victim