Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 019, folder 27: Anthony Foster Bagley

BAGLEY, Anthony Foster British H.M.S. Onslow Box 19, #27

ack 27/5/58 THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY

D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 -- MIDNIGHT JUNE 6

What is your full name? Anthony Foster Bagley

What is your present address? Hilltop Plumpton Green. Near Lewes. Sussex.

Telephone number: Plumpton 277.

What was your unit, division, corps? H.M.S. ONSLOW

Where did you land and at what time? Covered landings - anti U-boat & E boat patrol off Cap Barfleur

What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? Midshipman, Royal Navy - 18 3/4

Were you married at that time? No What is your wife's name? No Did you have any children at that time? No

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? Yes

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? Calm - we were at action stations from about 8p.m. on June 5 until about 6.30am on 6 June. We were too interested in what was going on to talk much except to wonder how it would all turn out.

Were there any rumours aboard ship? (Some people remember hearing that the Germans had poured gasoline on the water and planned to set it afire when the troops came in.) No.

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happed to you that day? No.

2.

Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? No

Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? No

Were you wounded? No

How were you wounded? -

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? -

Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it may not have seemed amusing at the time? Or anything unexpected or out- of-place? No

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else?

No

3.

In times of great crisis, people generally show either great ingenuity or self-reliance; others do incredibly strange or stupid things. Do you remember any examples of either ? No.

Do you know of anybody else who landed within the 24 hours ( midnight 5 June to midnight 6 June ) either as infantry, glider or airborne troops, whom we should write to? No

What do you do now? I am just returning from the Royal Navy under the Sandy's "Axe". And am working in a City Office of a Merchant Banker's.

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."

Cornelius Ryan Joan 0. Isaacs The Reader's Digest

I do not think that much I can say to help your book. My overriding impression was of an immense, overwhelming armada of small and large craft all bound for Normandy. We did not land or for that matter get closer than about 8 miles from the beach altho' we watched the fleet pass on their way to their landing beaches and of course wondered just how many would return. In actual fact we had the quietest night of the whole time I was on board and working off the beaches! There is no doubt that the Germans were well and truly caught - anyway to start with. If I can do anything to help them please let me know I would not, however, be prepared to have my name put in the book.

A Bagley