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Pfc. Donald I. Jakeway, 21, of the 82nd Airborne Div. says:

Due to over-stuffing of doughnuts, the over-drinking of
coffee, and the tension of the thoughts of the on-coming jump, many
of the troopers were very high strung. For my part, I had to stand
in the door in flight over the channel to keep from being air sick.
It was in fact a relief to get out of the plane. That was the main
topic of conversation, wanting to jump and get it over with.

During the first ten days of the Normandy invasion I was
separated from my outfit and reported missing in action to my
parents. On my return to my own outfit the first thing my commanding
officer said was, “Where the hell you been? Don't you know there is
a war on?" After seeing some of the buddies dead in trees, which
I myself had landed in a tree, spending 8 days nearly always surrounded
by Germans, hiding, sometimes fighting for my very life, this was a
funny statement.

One of my very best friends landed among a platoon of
Germans and while hanging suspended from a side of a house where
his chute had caught, nearly wiped out the entire platoon before
being killed himself. I found them that way the early part of the
morning with no one else around. Lt. Thomas had only used hand
grenades and a tommy gun which was strapped to him.