Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 007, folder 42: Bernard G. Bowman

Bowman, Bernard G. West Va. 82 ND Possible Excerpt 82nd Div. Glider Inf. BOX 7, #42

325th Glider Infantry Afternoon

* aspirins [crossed out] HOLD THE SEPT [end crossed out]

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Possible EXCERPT Van, W. Va. Aug. 17, 1958

Dear Miss Ward I am Pfc. Bernard G. Bowman 35137170, Hq and Hq Co., 2nd Bn, 325th Glider Inf., 82nd Division. I am writing this letter in regard to an article in the Spring issue of Paraglide concerning a book, "D"-Day Normandy, which is being written by Mr. Cornelius Ryan. I will be glad to give the details of my experience in order to assist Mr. Ryan. In the following paragraphs I will relate my experience during the first twenty four hours of the invasion. On the morning of June 6, 1944 in England, somewhere, my company moved out of a wooded area to an Air Base about two miles away. We had been in the wooded area for a few days for briefing. I walked to the base with my Company Commander, Captain Slaughter from Florida. He was leading the company to the gliders for leading and take-off. As we walked along Captain Slaughter said Bowman we have been together for a long time and I said yes, Sir , we sure have. When we reached the field there were thousands of other troops there and the gliders were lined up for miles, it seemed. Almost all of the men were experienced veterans. As we moved down the line of gliders, every group was assigned to a glider. I was assigned to a named Thelma. The glider was carrying a jeep, equipment, and four other men.

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In a few minutes my entire company was loaded into various gliders and were ready for take-off. When we made contact for take-off it seemed like there were thousands of planes roaring. Our tow ship, a C-47 named Betty, started down the runway and in a few seconds we were airborne, at 140 miles per hour. In a few minutes I could see the English Channel and I knew that it wouldn't be very long until we would be dropping down into that "Hell", those muddy ditches in Normandy. I looked to my right and then to my left, there were planes and gliders everywhere, some twenty-five hundred of them. In a few more minutes I could see that big Navy down there with the Ships rocking and the big guns firing. I knew that it wouldn't be long now. After we had gotten a little inland, the Jerry's began to pour plenty of fire at us. The bullets were whinning all through our glider. Now, it was time for the pilots to cut the tow rope and we were all on our own, gliding into that Hell, called Normandy. The tow planes were now heading back to England. We are now gliding toward those hedge rows and the Jerries are still throwing lead at us. We clipped a hedge row and the glider slammed into a garden spot. We made it the hard way. I was the first one out of my glider. When I hit the ground I saw a Captain trying to give me some kind of a signal with his hands and arms. I looked behind our glider just as another glider slammed into ours. It caught all of us and knocked me out. I came to in a minute or so but I couldn't get up. I managed to crawl over to a hedge row about twenty five feet or so away. I could see the gliders still coming in, they were landing in tree tops, on top of houses, and everywhere. Since I had taken two aspirins I was beginning to feel

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better now but my shoulder was getting pretty sore. I guess I was in the hedge rows about twenty five minutes, and by this time the gliders had stopped coming in close to me, but guns were chattering everywhere. I could see that I was going to be alright now, so I went over to the glider to get my equipment. By the time I got there all of the other guys had gone. I got my equipment and started through the hedge rows to find my batallion. The first group I found was 3rd batallion and they told me that they had seen some of my batallion farther down the road. I stayed with the 3rd batallion for awhile until I found a buddy, Jesse Hurt a machine gun man, that was looking for the 2nd batallion too. Jesse and I left the 3rd batallion and went on down the road until we found our batallion. We found our batallion in the afternoon. By this time they were prettu well organized although a lot of them had been evacuated back to the beach. I saw a guy from my company that was shook up pretty bad. He told me that the pilot of his glider, named Mary, was killed before they landed and their glider landed in a tree top. He said that a lot of them were killed and the rest were shook up. Now we went into an apple orchard and dug in, some were wounded so we helped each other. We stayed here about two hours. Then we got orders to move out down the road. We walked down the road about an hour. Then we got orders to move off hte road into a wooded area and dug in. We had been there about two hours and were doing fine until Jerry's opened up on us with a nice little machine gun attack. The arrack was beat off and we stayed here about another hour. By this time it was getting late in the evening and we got orders to move out again. We walked down the road for about another hour until we got orders to move into another wooded area to stay for the night. There were plenty of Jerry's snipers in this area and they gave us plenty of company all night with their mortars.

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That night a tank outfit sent us thirteen tanks. The glider troops and the paratroops crowded on these tanks so they could attack this little town the next day. About daybreak another Private, a Sargeant, a Lieutenant, and myself went into this little town behind the troopers and tanks. When we got [illegible] there I saw our tanks and Jerry tanks burning and bodies laying everywhere. We had a mission to do so we managed to get our jeep through the town to the highway on the other side. Just as we got on the open road the Jerry's opened up with those 88's. We left the road and hit the ditch. There was plenty of Jerry's in the ditch too. When I hit the ditch I landed right on top of a Jerry Sargeant. Boy, we made love quick, we were hugging each other. After the 88's settled down we started to move out again. The Jerry's in the ditch wanted us to take them with us but we told them somebody else would be along to pick them up. This is about all oi the first twenty four hours. It was a great experience from Africa to the Elbe River.

Yours truly Bernard Gr. Bowman