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THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY
D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 —MIDNIGHT JUNE 6
Ack 17/6/58
What is your full name? Norman Victor Cox
What is your present address? 44 Riggindale Road Streatham SW6
Telephone number: Str 0295
What was your unit, division, corps? 4th Flotilla L.S.T.
Where did you land and at what time? Courseulles sur Mer "JUNO"
What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? Lieut RNVR Age 40
Were you married at that time? Yes
What is your wife’s name? Gladys
Did you have any children at that time? No
When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? Approximately 3 weeks before hand
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? Reasonably calm. Moderate swell kept Middle Watch on the Bridge
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.) Nothing reached my ears
Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No
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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? -
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?
The troops (ie Army) were issued with “vomit” bags. I gained the impression that the troops were more concerned with “sea sickness” than with the coming prospect of meeting the enemy
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else?
The morale of the men appeared to be very high
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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?
Nothing in particular Personally I have a stupid feeling of indignation when being dived bombed or machine gunned from the air
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?
Civil servant
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
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To us of the 4th LST Flotilla the invasion of Normandy was just another job, but with the added attraction of being near home. We were fairly hardened campaigners having had a taste of Sicily, Reggio. Salerno, Anzio, D. days & follow up's. What surprised us mostly was the lack of enemy air attack at Normandy. Having experienced such a lot of it in the Mediterranean we were expecting heavy air attacks as we beached, but thanks to the Allied Air Forces this did not materialize.