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Release - Int. CLOUDSLEY-THOMPSON, John Leonard 30th Corps Gold
Box 20, #11
Maybe
GOLD 7th Armored Div 30th British Corps
Le Hamel
In charge of a tank
Waited off shore all day because they had missed the tide Felt "very lonely"
anti climax
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THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 — MIDNIGHT JUNE 6
What is your full name? John Leonard Cloudsley- Thompson
What is your present address? Glendoone 10 Lower Green Road, Esher, Surrey
Telephone number: Emberbrook
What was your unit, division, corps? 4th County of London Yeomanry (sharpshooter) 7th Armoured Division 30th Corps.
Where did you land and at what time? Near Arromanches (It was supposed to be "Jig Green" beach but we landed on the wrong one). We were supposed to land on morning 6th June but missed the tide and ordered a few hundred yards from the shore till next morning.
What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? Capt (w/s Lieut) 23 years 14 days (Born 23 May 1921).
Were you married at that time? Yes recently. What is your wife' s name? Anne Did you have any children at that time? No.
When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? Several weeks before we really knew when the 7th Arm'd Div were withdrawn from Italy in the early pt of the yr.
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? When it was dark on June 5th I remember the colonel (who was rather a frightening person) came and talked to me very pleasantly until we got soaked by a wave. Most of our conversations were about our tanks (Cromwells) in which we were bitterly disappointed
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 happened to you that day? No we were not allowed to, but I jotted down a few notes which were sufficient to remind me of the sequence of events
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2.
Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? Our landing was unopposed - 50 Div had cleared the beaches.
Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties?
Were you wounded? Not on 'D' day. I had been wounded in the desert 27 May 1942 by an 88 mm which exploded inside my tank
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? When I was wounded I did not feel any pain although I realized that I had been hit. It was only when I baled out and tried to run I realized my foot was paralysed.
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? We made a number of jokes about 'goons' An officer called Mike Seaward was always teased about sea-goons and he found one drawn in chalk on the bridge of the L.C.T. when he went up there after breakfast on June 6th
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? It all seemed a bit unreal.
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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? When we landed everything seemed extremely normal in a curious kind of way.
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?
Capt P. Degas 44 Pembroke Square Kensington W.8. (Tanks)
What do you do now? I am a lecturer in Zoology University of London.
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 O. Isaacs The Reader's Digest
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4. When all the tanks were aboard, the ramp was raised and we moved slowly up [crossed out][?stairs?]river and anchored in pairs. Downstream, canvas dummy ships were intended to decoy any enemy planes.
Each ship flew a small barrage balloon, and much amusement was caused as these became entangled and spiralled into the sea. Others soared upwards, often reaching a great height before they eventually burst and fell to earth. During the three days we remained at anchor I saw 23 balloons ruined in this way, but they were quickly replaced.
We sailed on 5th June 1944. Out to sea we formed [inserted]part of[end inserted] a huge convoy stretching [crossed out]to the[end crossed out] [inserted]from horizon to[end inserted] horizon. [crossed out]and each[end crossed out] [illegible]