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- for Cornelius Ryan 2 -
Your name

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? Yes - in
my mind I can remember almost every detail including
Gen. Roosevelt yelling at me for standing at a crossroads.

Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or
during the day?
Yes - Smitty - direct hit on beach in
his fox hole.

Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties?
Smitty slept next to me at marshalling area
barracks after we were briefed on the invasion and
just talked about his dreams about - when this
is all over what I'm gonna do.

Were you wounded? Never by enemy fire but hurt my
knee diving in cellar window to escape shell fire from
German monster tank (320 mm self propelled gun)

[*D - day?*]
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?
It hurt and swelled up but just torn ligament
I went back to field hospital - had it xrayed. Major said I
could go back to my outfit. After what I saw at hospital I couldn't
get out of there fast enough.

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

[*MUST
D-day?*]
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else?
One I'll never forget - An old man came running down a
hill. We were dug in - spoke French. Myself & two others went
with him and he took us to his little farm house. This other
G.I. (Boulay was his name)spoke French & asked him what
happened & the old gent told & showed us. The three of us
and the old man walked in the door and there I saw
the worst thing I ever saw. A little boy about 10 or 11
laying on the bed. Not a tear in his eyes-not one-but
he should have had. His hand and forearm was
blown off. Just a raged torn up mess was there
and he was looking right at it. My two G.I. friends
-OVER-