Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 010, folder 42: Amos P. Potts, Jr.

POTTS, Amos P., Jr. 0 4 Box 10, #42

2nd Rangers

Pointe du Hoe

In charge of a Photographic Assignment Unit, assigned to 2nd Rangers

[crossed out][?Which?][end crossed out] Swam ashore, getting all his film wet.

Helped Lt. Eikner mann the signal light at Rudder's CP. because the radios were not working. The lamp was equipped with a "scope" to aim it at the Satterlee who was to receive the message. "I aimed the light."

Slept in a plastic gas cape that night as Pruitt

[*R-E (near Cincinnati) Loveland, Photographer w Rangers SJ read 0-4 LL*] 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.

[inserted]1[end inserted] What is your full name? Amos P. Potts Jr

[inserted]2[end inserted] What was your unit and division? Second Ranger Battalion

[inserted]3[end inserted] Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time? Point du Hoe 060710 June 1944

[inserted]4[end inserted] What was your rank on June 6, 1944? First Lieutenant

[inserted]5[end inserted] What was your age on June 6, 1944? 30 years

[inserted]6[end inserted] Were you married at that time? Yes [inserted]7[end inserted] What is your wife's name? Marie [inserted]8[end inserted] Did you have any children at that time? No

[inserted]9[end inserted] What do you do now? Civilian Employee Corps of Engineers Materials Engineer, Ohio River Division Labs

[inserted]10[end inserted] When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? approx 15 May 1944

[inserted]11[end inserted] 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 slept

[inserted]12[end inserted] 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 planned to set it afire when the troops came in). None of rumors made any impression.

- for Cornelius Ryan 2 - Your name Potts

[inserted]13[end inserted] Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? NO!

[inserted]14[end inserted] Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? Lost two my unit which I had command since its inception almost two years earlier

[inserted]15[end inserted] Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? No we had been separated since 31 May see attached

[inserted]16[end inserted] Were you wounded? Yes

[*D-day*] [inserted]17[end inserted] Do you remember what it was like—that is, do you remember whether you felt any pain or were you so surprised that you felt nothing? I patched up an english soldier wounded in the same blast and after I had finished he pointed out that I'd been hit, too.

[inserted]18[end inserted] Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time?

[inserted]19[end inserted] Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else? The shore-fire control party with utter disregard for their own safety called for "close-in" support - one officer killed -- one wounded.

The heroism in my own unit still amazes me I wrote recommendations for Silver Star. One was awarded and the other rerated D.S.C.

The use of a portable signal lamp to communicate with navy -- fire control, evacuation of wounded, and resupply.

- for Cornelius Ryan 3 - Your name Potts

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? See above

Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944? On the high seas in the invasion armada

Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944? Asleep in a plastic bag on Pointe du Hoe.

Do you know of anybody else who landed within those 24 hours (midnight June 5 to midnight June 6) as infantry, glider or airborne troops, or who took part in the air and sea operations, whom we should write to? [*LL*] Worden F. Lovell, D.S.C. is now a patient in Veterans' Hospital, Brockton, Mass. He is an NP and I doubt if he could be of much help but I saw him last summer and know he would appreciate hearing from you.

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

-for Cornelius Ryan 4 Potts

I commanded a small unit that suffered sixty percent casualties ( one KIA, one missing, one wounded in the first hours of the Normandy Invasion, but sixty percent of this group-of-five, who were unique in that we did not volunteer for Ranger Duty, also came out of it with individual decorations.

We were a Photographic Assignment Unit of a Signal Service Battalion borrowed to reinforce the Signal Photographic Company assigned to the First U. S. Army. Around the 15th of May I944 we received teletype orders to rep report to the Second Ranger Battalion. Upon arrivalat the Headquarters of the Provisional Ranger Group we learned that we would have the [crossed out]f[end crossed out] opportunity to obtain some of the best pictures of the coming invasion of fortress Europe. The Rangers had been training for months while we had been photographing supply activities and we were untrained in cliff-scaling. But the Army had an answer for that; one of the scaling means was fireman's ladders mounted on DWKS.

At the provisional headquarters, we spent most of our time shaking down equipment to the barest minimum--even the number of handkerchiefs in our assault packs was limited.

One afternoon we had a practice session, scaling cliffs in England similar