Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 008, folder 28: Ben F. Pearson

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507

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82 19B

PEARSON, Ben F. Ga 29

Box 8, #28

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GA 29

AB-TE [radio bit]

Savannah, Georgia

Columbus

LR

This guy should be good if he can be kept on the subject

For Cornelius Ryan Book about D-Day

THOUSANDS OF MEN, ON LAND AND SEA AND IN THE AIR, PARTICIPATED IN THE INVASION OF NORMANDY BETWEEN MIDNIGHT JUNE 5, 1944 AND MIDNIGHT JUNE 6, 1944. IF YOU WERE ONE OF THEM, PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

What is your full name? Ben F Pearson

What was your unit and division? 507th Parachute Regiment, 82nd AB Div.

Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time? Exact place where we landed is not known, as we missed our D.Z. We landed, I believe, sometime around 2 A.M.

What was your rank on June 6, 1944? Major [check mark]

What was your age on June 6, 1944? 29 yrs.

Were you married at that time ? No.

What is your wife's name ?

Did you have any children at that time ?

What do you do now? Vice President, Southport Paint Company

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? When we went overseas in November of 1943, however not definite on the area until about April 1944.

What was the trip like during the crossing of the Channel? Do you remember, for example, any conversations you had or how you passed the time? I was in one of the lead planes, and I can well remember standing in the door of the C-47 and looking back and as far as I could see (moon light) there were planes in V formation. [crossed out] in front as well as to the rear. [end crossed out] I also well remember looking down and seeing white breakers as we approached the coast of France. As we approached the coast, we received small arms fire , and immediately went into a fog or some type of smoke screen. This caused our pilots to break formation, and most of the regiment [crossed out] wx [end crossed out] did not hit [crossed out] come near hitting [end crossed out] their Drop zone. In addition the pilots failed to slow our plane down ( jumping speed is usually around 110) this caused a very bad jerk when the chute opened, but the worst part was the distance in which the stick was [crossed out] xxxx [end crossed out] spread on the ground. I was only able to find 2 men in my stick ( one of these, the chaplain)

What were the rumors on board the boat, ship or plane in which you made the crossing? (Some people remember scuttlebut to the effect that the Germans had poured gasoline on the water and olanned to set it afire when the troops came in). There was not too much conversation aboard , however there was a good bit in our confined area where we spent about 2 wks. before the D-day. The thing that had a good many of us wondering about, was a good many spotted [crossed out] px [end crossed out] open areas. This was interpreted by the air photo experts as being some type of anti airborne install- ation. There was no way to know exactly what this consist of, however most of us could visulize some type of sharp spears which would spear us as we landed. (We actually landed inone of these areas, however they were only large size poles embeded, mostly to prevent gliders from landing, they did not do much damage to us however.)

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- for Cornelius 2 -

Your name Ben Pearson

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? NO

Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day?

Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties?

not D-day Were you wounded? I was captured on D plus 4 days, escaped D plus 6, and finally made contact with our unit on D plus 9 or 10. Was assigned as Batallion commander, and was wounded after about 30 day[s]

Do you remember what it was like--that is, do you remember whether you Del4* any pain or were you so surprised that you felt nothing ? I was shot in [crossed out] kx [end crossed out] the side of the face by a snipper. I well remember the blow, as it felt like some one hit me with a sledge hammer. There was no real pain, but I was knocked out, and each time I tried to get on my feet, I would black out. My face was num, and I was bleeding, and the hole felt about the size of my fist (even though it was only a small caliber rifle that was used) Some of our first aid men finally found me

Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny new, though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time? The Chaplain and I were close friends, as a matter of fact we roomed together some when in England before the invasion. Before leaving the States I had been invited (together with 2 other officers ) on a deer hunt up in Wyoming. ( We were stationed at the time in Alliance [margin] Post D-day [end margin] Nebr.) I had never been on a deer hunt and all the other Officers kidded the three of us going on the hunt, that we all would come back with out any deer. Of course we were forced to bet that we would each get a deer. We hunted all over the mountain and none of us shot a deer, however there was a family living up here and they had deer strung up all over the place (wintercold) We traded ammunition for deer, and each brought back a nice size deer. All three of us pledged not to tell how we came about the deer, which we did, and collected our bets. One of my bets which I collected was from the Chaplin. We both were captured at the same time on D plus 4, and when taken into the (over)

Dc you recall any incident, sad heroic, or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else? The day after we landed , I had been able to collect [inserted] together [end inserted a dozen or two paratroopers, and we came across one of our soldiers that had been very badly shot in both arms. A german had shot him with an automatic pistol, and had almost torn his arms off. [margin] Post D-day [end margin] The flesh was off in places to the bone. We had no aid man in the group, and the man was in severe pain, and could not keep pace with the group. The area was literally swarming with [crossed out] xxxx [end crossed out] German anti-paratroop soldiers. However the Chaplain volunteered to stay with the wounded soldier, until an aid man was located. One felt fairly secure with the group, but to be left alone in a hot spot such as that, really impressed me, and still stands out in my memory of those eary combat days.

The Chaplain was Robert Hennon St. Lous MO 507th Para. Regiment

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German C.P. we both felt that without a doubt we would be shot. We had already been treated rather rough by the 2 Germans that had captured us, and when we were told to sit on the side of a bank, with a German aiming his gun at our backs, we surely felt that our time had come. I looked over at the Chaplain and said, "Chappie, do you remember that bet I collected from you on the deer, well, I didn’t shoot that deer, I bought him." The Chappie said that was all right, that he was indebted to be for about the same [crossed out] xxxxxx [end crossed out] amount of money anyway, so our obligations were even. There was not a smile or any sign of joking between us, and the whole conversation was in complete [crossed out] xxx [end crossed out] seriousness. The Chaplain [crossed out] xxxxxxxxxx [end crossed out] was a prisioner for about 9 months or more, and was rescued in a P.W. camp in Poland by the Russians. His name was Robert Hennon, from St. Louis, Mo.

An interesting story to me is one which took place the night before we actually took off.

As you probably remember the invision was postponed at the last minute for 24 hours. We had already boarded our planes for take off at about 11:45 P.M., when we received word that the invasion was postponed. We all [crossed out] xxx [end crossed out] went back to our area at Fullbeck (England airbase) and of course no one could go to sleep. So [crossed out] xxxx [end crossed out] a group of us were sitting together talking and turned on a radio that had been supplied to us during our stay at Fullbeck (about 2 Wks.) We turn the dial until we found some music, the records were mostly American dance and it didn’t occur to us that the station wasn’t English. However after several selections, this real femmine voice said "Hello, boys of the 82nd AB Division, We know you are coming, We’ll be waitrng for you" ........ You should have seen the look on everyone’s face..... It was Berlin Betty.

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- for Cornelius Ryan 3 - Your name BenPearson

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

Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944? Airborne for Normandy

Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944? Somewhere in Normandy Lost

Do you know of anybody else who landed within those 24 hours (midnight June 5 to midnight June 6 ) as infantry, glider or airborne truops, or who took part in the air and sea operations, whom we should write to?

Colonel Paul Smith (Then Capt) U.S.A. Robert ennon (then 1st lt Chaplain) St. Louis M Colonel [crossed out] A.A. Maloney [end crossed out] (then Lt Col) U.S.A. Have him

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

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.

Cornelius Ryan Frances Ward Research, The Reader's Digest

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