Page 5

FIRST LIEUTENANT ELMER S. ERICKSON
507th PARACHUTE INFANTRY
82ND AIRBORNE DIVISION

A statement taken by Major Lee of the 314th Station Hospital. The statement begins:

"We jumped the night before D-Day about 0100 hours in the morning. I landed
about one mile and a half from Ste. Mere-Eglise. I did not run into enemy opposition
on landing, only scattered rifle shots. I tried to locate my group but could only
fine two men at that time. Throughout the rest of the morning we spent getting to-
gether small groups of men and picking up equipment that we could locate. The morn-
ing of the first day Captain Taylor, in charge of my group, found one hundred men.
At approximately 0900 we attacked a small town north of Ste. Mere-Eglise toward the
end of the peninsular. We took the town and ran into a lot of todts captured about
forty or fifty Germans and then ran out of ammunition for machine guns and rifles.
We got word that some Germans were coming up the road from Montebourg. We did not
realize at the time that these Germans turned out to be two battalions of troops
that had been called up to Montebourg. They swept through the town and pushed us
back, splitting us up. I had just four enlisted men with me and were isolated from
the main group. We went off cross-country and after two miles laid down in the
ditches, we were so tired. That evening, sometime after dark, the Germans took up
positions around us so we laid on the grass all night. About 0400 part of the
325th Glider Infantry moved up and the Germans withdrew which enabled us to get out
of our holes."