Page 3

- for Cornelius Ryan 2 -
Your name Bennie W. Glisson

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day?
No. Diaries were strictly forbidden.

Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or
during the day?
I don't know. After I was taken to the hospital I never saw
any of my shipmates again. I knew a few of the fellows who
were killed but none from my division.

Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became
casualties?
Most of the conversation while on the life rafts was about
those lousy gunners on the beach who couldn’t even hit a
life raft. They fired at us for about an hour after the
ship was sunk and succeeded in hitting one of the rafts
killing about three men. We talked about how icy the water
was and wondered how long we'd have to stay in it before
someone could come in and pick us up.

Were you wounded?
Yes. A gash about two inches on my head and a broken knee.

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?
Dazed at first but I didn't feel much pain until I was
picked up and made more comfortable aboard the U.S.S. Butler.
I didn’t have time to think much about being hurt, rather,
how much worse I might be hurt before they stopped firing at
us. I guess I was so cold I couldn't feel much pain anyway.

Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even
though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time?
A first class baker whose battle station was on the forward
torpedo tubes was hurled down on the main deck when we were
hit. He stood up spun around about three times and dived
head first over the side into the drink. I suppose he was
the first man to hit the water. He was picked up by the
same ship that picked me up and we were all laughing about
how he did but he was so dazed for two or three hours he
didn’t even recognize anyone and during that time I don’t
think he even spoke to anyone; just walked around in a daze.
We also heard that the captain of our ship sent his uniform
to the laundry as soon as he was picked up and in 30 minutes
he didn't look like he'd ever been wet.

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck
you more than anything else?
Yes, I believe the saddest was the boy who prayed so hard that
he would get back home. he died by drowning because he couldn’t
swim. Others were drowned when the cargo net they were climbing
to safety aboard a rescue ship broke and they became [crossed out]tangled[end crossed out]
[crossed out]in[end crossed out] entangled and couldn’t escape. Lt. Parrot and Lt. Garay
went down into the forward engine room to rescue some of the
fellows who were trapped there and succeeded in bringing out
all who were still alive. They braved live steam, smoke , hot
oil and darkness to bring those boys out of there and if there
was a man there who didn’t respect them before, I’m sure their
esteem for them soared far above expectations. Our shijSs
doctor was very heroic that day and for days afterward. He
worked until he had to abandon ship and then for two or three
days afterward at the Army hospital. When they urged him to
stop and get some sleep he told them, ’’They are my boys and
I should be the one to look after them”.