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Release Int. CLARK [crossed out] E [end crossed out], Ronald Juno, War Correspondent Box 20, #10 Release to PG
JUNO Berneries Sur Mer War Correspondent Carried 2 baskets of pigeons Saw dead British Tommy with yellow face - black cross mark on forehead to show he'd been given morphine Saw 4 of our tanks in Berneries knocked out with 4 direct hits from 1000 yds. away.
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The Reader’s Digest
THE READER’S DIGEST ASSOCIATION LIMITED
TELEPHONE: 7 OLD BAILEY LONDON E C 4 CABLES : CITY 4342 READIGEST LONDON
INTERVIEW WITH RONALD CLARK
Ronald Clark was a War Correspondent with British United Press and was attached to the Canadians, landing at Bernieres on D-Day morning.
Clark came ashore carrying two baskets of pigeons with a Canadian Captain. Several tanks were passing them by at the time. They put the pigeons down on the beach and then to their horror saw that the tanks very nearly ran over the pigeons. They quickly hurried back and took the pigeons, which had been dubbed by all concerned as Brigadier-General Neville ’s "bloody pigeons", to a safer place up the beach.
Ron Clark says there was absolutely no truth in the rumour about French girls knifing British tommies or sniping at them. This seems to bear out what I’ve heard elsewhere. He remembers seeing two French girls, fair haired, who came down the street at Bernieres giving out roses, and it was later rumoured that they were both shot as collaborationists later on. There is no way of verifying this. He saw four of our tanks knocked out in Bemieres with four direct shots from about 1,000 yards away. He will always remember the dead body of a British tommy lying back in a ditch. He had a yellow face like a Chinaman and on his forehead was a black cross indicating that he had received morphine prior to his death. He will always remember that the black cross and the sort of jaundiced look of the man’s face all played up by a quiet smile on the corpse. It was a pretty terrible sight. He will never forget that.
He also will never forget that the fields around Berniers and down to Corseulles had many poppies through them which was somewhat reminiscent of Flandres.
He remembered on D-Day that although he waded ashore up to his waist in water he somehow didn’t notice that he was wet. Now this is an interesting point because very few people who went ashore that
DE WITT WALLACE , U. S . A . LILA BELL WALLAC E , U S A . LUCIUS F . CRANE T . G - M . HARMAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR.
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The French girl, fair hair who came down the street at Berniers giving out roses later rumoured as shot as colaborator.
Ken Clark came ashore carrying 2 box baskets of pidgeons ^with Can Capt Ten tanks passing within inches of them. WEren't used for fine . ^(Brg Gen) Nevilles "Bloody Pidgeons"
No truth in rumour about French girls knifing Tommy's
Ross Munro, Canadian Press. Shovel incident - Hit trench. The 70 year old French woman who gave them a shovel to dig trench.
Four tanks in Bernier ^knocked out 4 shots about 1300-1400.
Dead body lying back in ditch -yellow face like a chinaman with black cross on his forehead, smile on face
From Bernier to Courseilles wheat field with waves of poppies reminiscent of Flanders.
Because he's fond mountaineering he's used to being cold, but water being wet. On D-day he remembers that although he waded ashore up to his waist he somehow didn't notice that he was wet.
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1O, CAMPDEN STREET, KENSINGTON, LONDON , W8.
BAYSWATER SO59 [Stamped]13MAY 1958[Stamped]
May 22nd ., 1958
Dear Sir,
I have seen your note in the "Times ” and may possibly be able to help you .
An author myself, I was in 1944 a war Correspondent with the British United Press, attached to the Canadians, and landed ( at Bernieres ) with them on the morning of D-Day. I believe that I still have tucked away somewhere a carbon of my Normandy cables ---they will of course have included far more than ever found its way into the papers .
Yours sincerely
Ronald W. Clark