Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 008, folder 04: James M. Gavin

June 30, 1958

General James M. Gavin 11 Cliff Road Wellesley Hills 82, Massachusetts

Dear General Gavin:

Thank you for talking with me this afternoon. What I was trying to say, and perhaps said quite ungracefully, was that since the men of the 82nd hold you in such high esteem and deep effection, a few words from you might win some further assistance for us at the coming convention. With your permission, then, I shall ask Mr. Pattullo to say that you have been working with Connie Ryan on the book, and respect and recommend his work.

I wish that Mr. Ryan were here to meet Reverend Wood. In his absence an associate of his, Mr. David Kerr, and I look forward to doing so. I am writing to Mr. Ryan tomorrow and will surely give him your regards. Thank you again, sir, for your interest and your kindess.

Sincerely yours,

Frances Ward Research Department

[inserted] Original in Special File [end inserted]

Arthur D. Little, Inc.

UNIVERISTY 4-5770

ESTABLISHED 1886

THIRTY MEMORIAL DRIVE CAMBRIDGE 42, MASSACHUSETTS

PLEASE ADDRESS REPLY TO: ACORN PARK CAMBRIDGE 40, MASSACHUSETTS

Mr. Cornelius Ryan 230 East Eighty-eight Street New York 17, New York

Dear Connie:

Herewith are a number of papers:

1. The aircraft assignments by unit and personnel strength of the 82nd for the Normandy assualt. Force "A" was the outfit which I was to command. Ridgeway was to go in with Force "B" and Generall Howell, I believe, was to take Force "C". As you know, Ridgway decided, about a week or so before I believe, to go in with Force "A" so he exercised all command after the landing.

2. A list of the units attached to the 82nd for the assault.

3. A letter from Ridgway to SHAEF commenting on the operation.

4. A chart showing the operations 6 June to 8 July.

I am sending you under separate cover a copy of "Saga of the All American." I am very surprised that you have not seen it. It contains a great deal of information. Do not be confused with the inclusion of the Anzio and Southern France operations in the 82nd history. This is due to the fact that one fo our regiments, the 504th, spent considerable time in Anzio and one fo the battalions later attached to us, the 509th, landed in Southern France.

Sincerely,

James M. Gavin

:hcs Enclosures

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. NEW YORK CHICAGO WASHINGTON, D. C. SAN FRANCISCO SCOTLAND PUERTO RICO

HENRY C. STIENING HUGO V. OLSON VANCE N. THYSELL

PHONE CEdar 3-2407

STIENING, OLSON & THYSELL ATTORNEYS AT LAW NATIONAL BUILDING MOORHEAD, MINNESOTA March 30, 1959

Lt. General James M. Gavin Arthur D. Little, Inc. Acorn Park Cambridge 40, Mass.

Dear General:

I was out of town for a couple weeks and I am just getting caught up on my work. I hope that this letter is not too late for your purposes.

So many years have passed that my memory as to time and dates may be somewhat hazy. If you find any errors as to times and dates, just correct them.

When we left England, the night was bright and clear and we could see the air train for a long distance back. All the planes were in a tight formation and we came in over the Normandy Peninsula in good shape. I was either right behind you or third man in the stick. As we came in over the Peninsula aboutthree miles, we went into a cloud bank and you could literally see the planes scattering to avoid collision. I will never forget the sensation when we came out of the clouds and found ourselves all alone. Just before we jumped, I saw some of the other planes coming out of the cloud bank as on the sea side and I suppose if we had had another ten miles to fly, the planes would have resumed their formation somewhat, but as it was, we could not have been more scattered if we had tried. We jumped all alone and as we were floating down, I could hear a lot of shooting going one. In the position I was in, I thought I was the only target they had. I landed in a cow pasture. You and I must have landed in the same field. You were the first or second person I contacted on the ground. After that, we moved towards the Merderet collecting a few troops as we moved along. I suppose in the morning there werw 100-150 men in our group. The principal problem at the time was the disorganization and complete lack of artillery or anti-tank guns, the one glider that we found was in the water where it was impossible to remove the guns. We first tried to move south and east toward the La Fiere bridge. Because of fire from German units, we were unable to do so. We were pinned against the flood lands along the Merderet and about dawn, we withdrew across the river toward the railroad causeway to the north. The water was about waist deep in most places and we moved in a widely dispersed formation across the swamp. As we were crossing the river, the Germans were firing at us and I amsure that some of the fellows that got hit just slipped into the water. On the north side of the Merderet we ran into a lot more boys from the 82nd. At this point, I believe, we heard that the La Fiere bridge had been taken. Thereafter, it was retaken by the Germans. Major Kellems was killed leading an unsuccessful attack to recapture the bridge.

Lt. General James M. Gavin, Page #2

March 30, 1959

Most of the first day was spent, as I remember, trying to establish communication with other units and gather sufficient strength to force a crossing of the bridge at La Fiere. The 508 tried to take the bridge further east with considerable casualties. That evening, they brought more gliders in with re-inforcements and artillery but the major part of them overshot the DZ and wound up in no man's land with the Germans or in the flooded ground. It seems to me that about this time, we established. We were still trying to take the La Fiere bridge. La Fiere was alittle village with most of the buildings constructed of stone and very dd. The Germans used this to advantage. The artillery we had did not seem to have much effect. That evening, we established contact with the naval liason party and they had arrangements for getting some fire support from naval units. I recall one shell that came in which sounded like a run-away box car and they laid it right into La Fiere. I have no recollection of more than the one shell and I do not think that it had any effect on the taking of the town because the Germans still held the other side of the next morning and we had to bring up tanks and artillery to force a crossing.

We had tanks on the north bank lined up about ten feet apart, all of them putting shell fire and machine gun fire into La Fiere. Under this cover, a crossing was ultimately made. After securing the bridge, we got troops across and some armored cars. The armored cars must have moved out quite swiftly after taking the bridge as I recall finding Germans scattered along the ditches who had apparently been caught by the armored cars when trying to escape.

After taking the bridge, troops moved out into a perimeter on the south side. Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, the Germans counter-attached and it developed into a really hot fight. I went out to the line on the south. As you know, there were various crops planted out there including some grain and sometimes the small arms fire became so intense that it was cutting the grain off. The tanks we had attached to the 82nd went out and helped break up the counter-attack and several of the, in turn, were knocked out by German anti-tank fire approximately 1 1/2 miles from the bridge. By 8 p.m. the counter-attack was pretty well beaten and we had no further problems holding the bridge. The Germans had had na 88 zeroed in on the road approaching the bridge and made any travel thereon rather uncomfortable.

I cannot remember how many tanks we had helping us in the crossing but I would say there were four to six that helped concentrate their fire on the opposite side. There are many details which I have forgotten including dates, times and places. So much happened each day and we had so little sleep on the first few days that it is all more or less run together in my memory. You have continued to study the campaign so you are quite familiar with it and if I am wrong as to dates or times, please feel free to correct me.

The foregoing is very, very sketchy and I am sure adds nothing to the information you have available. If anything further comes to my mind, I will forward it to you.

Lt. General James M. Gavin, Page #3

March 30, 1959

I trust that everything is working out well for you at Cambridge. I hope that all is well with Jean and the family.

Very truly yours, [inserted] Hugh [end inserted] Hugo V. Olson HVO:m