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- for Cornelius Ryan 3 -
Your name William E Ekman

In times of great crisis, people generally show either great ingenuity or
self-reliance; other do incredibly stupid things. Do you remember any,
example of either?

I personally can recall no one of the regiment doing something incredibly
stupid, unless it was me; at least that is my opinion; unless one can call [inserted] rushing [end inserted]
[crossed out][illegible][end crossed out] machine gun nessts and hedge rows [inserted] which most of my men did, [end inserted] stupid;under some circumstances
such action might be considered stupid, but under those which we encountered,
such action was part of the job. One of my major concerns was keeping
personnel going toward their individual objectives, whatever they [crossed out] may [end crossed out] [inserted] must [end inserted] be,
instead of turning aside to participate in knocking out enemy resistance on
the flank. Whenever a machine gune or other automatic weapon, including 88's,
opened up, it seemed like everyone in the vicinity started to converge on it
to knock it out. The greater number of officers and men in the 505 at that
time had already had three campaigns behind then, and were completely self-
reliant. I know that I was not nearly so worried about what they would do
as they were about what I would do.

Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944?
At midnight 5 June 1944 we were airborne, enroute to the objectives area.

Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944?
At midnight 6 June 1944 we were involved in combat around the key communica-
tions center of Ste Nere Eglise.

Do you know of anybody else who landed withing those 24 hours (midnight
June 5 to midnight June 6) as infantry, glider or sirborne troops, or
who took part in the air and sea operations, whom we should write to?
Yes. Lt Colonel Robert M. Piper, who has already submitted some comments
to you. [inserted] (Have there) [end inserted]

Colonel John Norton, Research and Developments, Dept of the Army, Washington DC

There are a number of individuals, both officer and enlisted, within my
department here at Fort Benning who participated, and whom I know would be
able to furnish information. If you will send questionnaires, approximately
40, I will distribute them.

I suggest you write to the Secretary of the 82nd Airborne Division, Fort
Bragg, North Carolina, a Major Mason, currently retired; and to Mr. Don
Lassen, 15101 Honore Ave., Harvey, Ill. Lassen has the names and addresses
of officers and enlisted men who were members of "E" Company of the 505,
and has been instrumental in organizing a periodic news letter as well as an
annual convention for personnel of the company and others of the regiment.

PLEASE LET US HAVE THIS QUESTIONNAIRE AS SOON AS POSSINLE, SO THAT WE CAN
INCLUDE YOUR EXPERIENCES IN THE BOOK. WE HOPE THAT YOU WILL CONTINUE YOUR
STORY ON SEPARATE SHEETS IF WE HVE NOT LEFT SUFFICIENT ROOM. FULL
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT WILL BE GIVEN IN A CHAPTER CALLED "WHERE THEYA RE NOW;
YOUR NAME AND VOCATION OR OCCUPATION WILL BE LISTED.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.

Cornelius Ryan

Frances Ward
Research, The Reader's Digest