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VERNON AUGUSTINE THOMPSON 808 North Jefferson Street Goldsborough, N. C.
Mr. Ryan: I must ask you your full name. Vernon Augustine Thompson
Mr. Ryan: Thompson, hu. Good - aha
Mr. Ryan: Where do you live.
Thompson: 808 North Jefferson Street, Goldsborough, N.C.
Mr. Ryan: Now how old were you on D-Day. I understand you[crossed out] 're [end crossed out] were pretty young, weren't you.
Thompson: Seventeen
Mr. Ryan: Seventeen and when did you join the PT unit. You were on a PT boat.
Thompson: That's right.Thats almost.......and
Mr. Ryan: Well just look. Was it a month before, couple of months before
Thompson: About three months before.
Mr. Ryan: Was this your first combat
Thompson: Yes, signed
Mr. Ryan: What was your rank on D-Day
Thompson: Seaman first class
Mr. Ryan: Seaman first class. Where had you been based in England
Thompson: Borma(sounds like) Landan (sounds like) Glasgow, Scotland
Mr. Ryan: Well just preceding D-Day you were in Borma. [crossed out] What was the number of your [end crossed out]
Thompson: Borma
Mr. Ryan: What was the number of your boat or what was the name of it, do you remember
Thompson: 136
Mr. Ryan: PT 136 - What was the .....was there much of a crew on that
Thompson: There was 18 of us. I think
Mr. Ryan: And your mission on D-Day was what
Thompson: Picking up survivors
Mr. Ryan: Picking up survivors. Now after the postponement you went there once when the invasion was postponed from 5th to the 6th. You left once and then you were called back and now - on the actual day of the invasion - that was the 6th of June '44 - what time did you leave England - your squadron - was it a full squadron?
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Vernon Augustine Thompson -2-
Thompson: Yes, we actually left about three
Mr. Ryan: Three - how did you feel about it
Thompson: Pretty nervous for we had made so many attempts - we were not sure whether we were sailing or not.
Mr. Ryan: You weren't the only one who never skipped the old way Now - I take it that you made lots of practice
Thompson: I guess we made at least 10 practice runs back to the harbour
Mr. Ryan: What did the fellows talk about on the way over
Thompson: The main thing [crossed out] there [end crossed out] they were always asking us if this is really it.
Mr. Ryan: Is this really it
Thompson: Yep
Mr. Ryan: Did you have any particular buddies on board
Thompson: Yes
Mr. Ryan: Do you remember any one
Thompson: Yes, chief boatswain's mate
Mr. Ryan: What was his name
Thompson: Eddie Bushill
Mr. Ryan: Eddie Bushill BUSHILL (spelled)
Thompson: That's right
Mr. Ryan: And what was his nickname
Thompson: Ed
Mr. Ryan: ED - You had presumably had some conversations on the way over
Thompson: Yes - quite a few
Mr. Ryan: Recreate what some of those conversations were like - you can't remember obviously the exact words but recreate the [crossed out] thought [end crossed out] [inserted] sort of [end inserted]
Thompson: Well to start now I guess I thought most about the [crossed out] men [end crossed out] [inserted] women that [end inserted]we had been with and the things we had done in the States together
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Mr. Ryan: Yeah, like what for example - I mean this us just for me - this is a ...
Thompson: Coming back into - the main thing when we were shipped out from the States, we were going up to Philadelphia - and he and I were in a room together or we were in separate rooms together - we were after a ball - anything we could find - because we knew it was our last night - so he took his away and I took mine because it didn't look like we were going to get anything together - so I came back in about three o’clock and he was in the room but he didn’t have anything...but I brought one up - but it was a flop
Mr. Ryan: This is - thou power for the course!
Thompson: So - (can’t make out) which we had double [crossed out] rooms [end crossed out] beds in that room and pretty soon he said I can’t the smell any longer so he said give me the news paper so he went to the room and fanned (can’t make out)
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Mr.Ryan: Tell me, in England did you by any chance have a date with a girl for D-Day and you couldn't keep it or anything like that
Thompson: No.
Mr. Ryan: Did you...you had a girl over there anyway...like every other -[crossed out] had [end crossed out] [inserted] you [end inserted]had a...
Thompson: No, particular...
Mr. Ryan: Like every other...you had...Well in other words there was no situation which you were trying to have a date with some particular girl and then D-Day comes along which held you up and you couldn't count on...
Thompson: No, I didn't have anything
Ryan: Yah, - what had you - had you been sealed off for long before D-Day - I mean...
Thompson: We had actually been sealed off for three days before D-Day
Mr. Ryan: Yah - now what about
Thompson: It was fairly discussed this day in Philadelphia and the episode and
Mr. Ryan: Did you discuss fear at all
Thompson: No, fear never entered our mind because along about on D-Day we had made so many attempts and so I think our fear had actually left the biggest part of us because we weren't sure this would be it again - I think our most fear was back in our first attempt to go out or...or we thought that time was going to be it and of course we always turned around about two thirds of the way across... Our fear wasn't too much until we got over where we could see what was really going on and our fear came then
Mr. Ryan: At about what time did the...did you first see the beaches
Thompson: I guess it must have been 6:30 in the morning
Mr. Ryan: Do you remember the captain of the PT boat - what his name was
Thompson: A Lt. Ettington (sounds like)
Ryan: Ettington - you don't remember his first name