Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 019, folder 06: Vernon Augustine Thompson

Vernon Augustine Thompson Belt 2 - 1 A

Ryan: But now. You see a lot of heads bobbing [inserted] in [end inserted] the, water - [inserted] and [end inserted] a lot of yelling - Pick me up we're over here and so forth and so on and sudden[crossed out] t [end crossed out]ly then you see this LST - was it a big LST

Thompson: Yes

Ryan: And just chewing toward (can’t make out)

Thompson: That’s right - it was going for the landing - there were just so many in there I know.. I realize that I saw but it seems like they - I don’t know [crossed out] ehre [end crossed out] where you see a tight thing you just wonder why it can’t

Ryan: What would you assist yourself - would you have [crossed out] grabbed [end crossed out] [inserted] grasped [end inserted] the rail and said something like - My God, My God - something like this - did you I mean - how did you feel - you must have said something

Thompson: The only thing I could remember there was hollering - can’t you miss bitches - please [crossed out] p [end crossed out] something like that - I don’t remember the exact words what I said - some particular words

Ryan: I could make (can’t make out) It should be more or less correct - would it Well now, when they’re half through were there any survivors left in the water

Thompson: Oh there still an awful lot of survivors - in the water - from...several boats but these so many boats were in the water Some had gotten in but hadn’t made it and a good many of them I think were

Ryan: Well now how about you start to pick these up - didn’t you -

Thompson: Yes

Ryan: And tell me something what they said when they were picked up - I mean the fellows who had been missed by the British LCI - the lining up

Thompson: Well one that was picked up - we pulled him up by his arm -I didn’t - but one of the boys down the pulled one up and was going to pull one up by his arm and his arm came off and he was screaming at the time he pulled him off and the second his

Vernon Augustine Thompson Belt 2 - 2 A

Thompson: arm came off, he passed out

Ryan: It was the fellow that was trying to pull him out You know I never heard that line - it’ll be wonderful

Thompson: I don’t remember who that was or - the other only real incident I remember is simply one boy who pulled up that all of his all - his lower intestines were blown off and he was in awful bad shape and screaming but we couldn’t understand a thing he was saying - sounded like Oh my

Ryan: Do you remember any conversations at all that you pulled out that day

Thompson: We didn’t have any conversations with anybody except I had one with one boy I brought back that was from a town I was originally from and I couldn’t make heads or tails out of his except for the fact that he seen my mother and so I’m all right - and...

Ryan: What would first have given him a cigarette - try to give him something to eat or coffee or what what

Thompson: Well we had and they did give him cigarettes and give him coffee and give him anything else but that wasn’t my job - my job was actually to start all the way back and start making coffee They had him laid out on the deck - when I first one we brought back I guess we brought back about 40 and they all laid out on the deck

Ryan: All that day you were going back and forth

Thompson: That’s right

Ryan: How many do you think you’d have brought back - how many trips back and forth

Thompson: Three trips

Ryan: Three trips - [crossed out] about 35 people [end crossed out]

Thompson: Three trips - about 35 people

Ryan: How many would you say you brought back

Vernon Augustine Thompson Belt 2 - 3 A

Thompson: I guess I brought back at least 120 - 30 something like that

Ryan: Tell me was there a chaplain on board too - were there doctors

Thompson: No - we didn't have a chaplain - didn't have a medic or anything

Ryan: Now what did the beach like - what did it look like to you

Thompson: The best thing I can remember about the beach was an awful lot of wire and sparks sticking up and of course and we were in and one of the boys on our boat.

Ryan: You went into the beach

Thompson: We went into the beach - we were - that was on our last trip over

Ryan: What time would that be - rough[crossed out] t [end crossed out]ly.

Thompson: That was in the late afternoon

Ryan: 7 - 8 - around there

Thompson: It wasn't that late - because we were back by dawn - it was - it must have been about 5 in the afternoon because we made our last trip

Ryan: How long would it take to go over and back - about 2 hours - 3 hours

Thompson: If we - we could [inserted] come [end inserted]back easy in about an hour and 45 minutes going over - going over we could go over in about an hour and 45 minutes - but coming back it takes about 2 hours and a half

Ryan: So its a 4 hour trip

Thompson: It depends on how the wind was

Ryan: And depending [crossed out] on [end crossed out] how long (can't make out) You patrol right down along the whole lot in between the battleships and everything - or would you be very close to the beach - would you be

Thompson: We'd come within well sometimes we'd come within I guess a hundred yards and of course if we were hit bad we'd have to move back out but we didn't get too close on our first two trips - we had to worry about mines - well I don't thing we were particularly fire on - I think it was just fired There's a chance that we were fired on but -or nothing came in or close to us

Vernon Augustin Thompson Belt 2 - 4 A

Thompson: Because we went in back later on the beach was down and we didn’t have too much trouble - on the beach we went down - when we hit the beach in the afternoon At that time an[crossed out] d [end crossed out]...the only thing we were doing was sight seeing more or less

Ryan: It was still shelling - wasn’t it

Thompson: Oh yea - it's still shelling but in our particular area they were in

Ryan: Wasn’t there terrific...debris on the beach...burning tanks

Thompson: I don’t remember seeing any tanks on the beach -the only thing I remember seeing was quite a few men laying around and guns and helmets and that type of stuff a few pillboxes

Ryan: Did you talk to anybody on the beach at all

Thompson: No I didn’t - the only thing we did was to try to pick up - I guess - everybody a souvenir type because we knew that was our last trip over and

Ryan: What did you pick up

Thompson: I picked up a flag - a German flag

Ryan: Behind the beach

Thompson: I guess somebody must have riddled It with holes or something because it was torn pretty well torn but one of the boys went in where they had these fine mesh mines and he went in and he stepped on one and [crossed out] I think [end crossed out] he got his leg blew off

Ryan: Who was he

Thompson: Souvenir hunter - Gee... a kid from Brooklyn - can’t remember his name

Ryan: What was he - on the boat

Thompson: He was the coxwain

Ryan: He was the coxwain - and what was the boat loading up - wounded - was that it

Thompson: Wounded - that's all I can figure

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[crossed out] Ryan: [end crossed out] Thompson: On the first trip over we were taking - we would go back and load up stuff - I don't know what they were - supplies I guess but they were all in crates - and we'd take them and pick up wounded and [crossed out] take them [end crossed out][inserted] go [end inserted]back

Ryan: When you hit the beach - how many times that day - two or three times Did you actually go into the beach two or three times

Thompson: We actually went into it...I went into the beach once - we went in to it three times

Ryan: Well how would you get your supplies on

Thompson: Well, some of the places we'd taken off we dumped them right into the water where our boat couldn't draw any more water - and we'd dump them right in the edge of the water.

Ryan: But your first trip over were you carrying supplies too

Thompson: Yes - we had supplies - I think everything we had on the first trip was all K rations because it was rather light and the cartons were light and they were wrapped in some kind of....

Ryan: Now what was the name of your naval group - I mean this particular PT group

Thompson: Task Force 8

Ryan: Task Force 8 and you finally got back to England what time that night

Thompson: I'd say we got in about 7 - 7:30

Ryan: Now tell me did you have an emotional crises within yourself after you were back on land after all you'd seen that day - I mean did you pray that night or

Thompson: Oh I pray - I prayed every night

Ryan: What do you say - I mean what sort of prayers do you say - I'm interested in asking you this for a number of reasons - I'm just trying to call whats in you when

Thompson: My prayers was always to look after my mother and my family and to take me back home

Ryan: What religion are you

Thompson: Protestant