Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 020, folder 37: William Hargreaves Emery

EMERY, William Hargreaves 50th Div. 30th Corps BOX 20, #37

THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 -- MIDNIGHT JUNE 6

What is your full name? William Hargreaves Emery.

What is your present address? 70, Camden Road, Camden Town. London. N. W. 1.

Telephone numbers NONE.

What was your unit, division, corps? 9th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry. 50th Division (TT) 30th Corps

Where did you land and at what time? Is the best of my knowledge, "Arromanches." The first name [inserted] I saw [end inserted] on the way through the village after leaving beach was; - MONT DE FLEURY.

What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? Private. 24.

Were you married at that time? YES

What is your wife's name? Lily Louisa Emery.

Did you have any children at that time? NO

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? Unofficially 1943 [illegible] 44 In September as we prepares to leave Sicily, General opinion of all concerned was " Now, for the Second Front!" The wags in Battalion said we were experienced in sea bornelanding, so we are lumbered! Besides we were THE 50th DIVISION. Officialy Sunday 4th June 1944 somewhere off the coast of Southampton in the LCT

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? Rough. (To me anyway.) The landing craft I was on was about 20 foot wide and 80 to 90 foot long, [crossed out] [illegible] [end crossed out] on board [crossed out] was [end crossed out] [inserted] were [end inserted] the 'carriers' [inserted] (Bren Gun Carriers) [end inserted]and our three ammunition trucks [inserted] (15 cwt 4 wheel Drive) [end inserted] Ouring to the rough pitching and tossing wet stayed in our vehicles, brewing inumerables cups of char and consuming tin after tin of Self heating Soup. (all tin containing a fuse, which one lit with a cigarret, waited till the fuse stopped hissing then opened. General feeling of all was Confidence we know that we would succeed.

Where 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.) Among our small community of sea sick soldiers, there were only half hearted gags about the size of the guns on the shore waiting for us, and always the reply was, So what! We beat Gerry in Africa and Sicily and now we'll do it again. As I said before the craft bore an air of confidence in spite of the sea we felt at peace, no uneasy qualms as to the outcome.

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

2.

Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? I have no doubt that any of the casualtieson that may have been friends of mine. But, and this may take a little understanding, with the exception of the other two truck drivers, I had no contact with them from Saturday 3rd June till things quietened down about 2 days later after landing, (the 8th) Also the rest of the MT followe later on.

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

Were you wounded? No

How were you wounded? No

Do you remember what it was like -- that is, do you remember whether you folt 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 outof -place? * Sorry for misplaced this answer.

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? No

* I was surprised to see so many machine gun emplacements on the beach. All Absolutely Useless. The guns were choked with rust, but from the sea they looked menacing. Also at the function [crossed out] where [end crossed out] where we turned inland the was a huge gun emplacement (About the size of a 15 inch naval gun) Here the surprise wasto find the whole object was made of wood. Also I was greatly surprised at the lack of enemy aircraft either fighter or bomber. I didn't [inserted] see [end inserted] one plane, other than our own all day.

3.

In times of great crisis, people generally show either great ingenuity or self-reliances; 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? Not here in London, but perhaps if you contactd The Durham Light Infantry Association 13, Elvet Bridge, Durham City. Lt. Col W. H. Lowe the Hon Secretary would assist you to contact members of the 6th, 8th and 9th Battalions of the D. L. I who took part.

What do you do now? I drive a Van for a Government Contractor.

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

W. H. Emery

It was sometime in April or May 1944 that we finally knew that we would be taking part in the 'Second Front', as it was then called. I was a driver in the M.T platoon and at first I was allocated the D plus 17 position for the landing. Then apparently due to sickness or something I was recalled from the Salisbury area to Nightingale Woods on the Romsey road to Southampton. (This area was sealed offabout the beginnning of May.) And on my arrival was told I would have the small arms ammunition truck (.303, 2 pdr anti tank and 3 inch mortar ammo.) and I would be D-Day plus 30 mins. So I set about waterproofing the truck engine. On Saturaday 3rd June about 3 o clock we got order to form up in order of embarkation, and later in the day I backed the truck down the ramp on to the L.C.T. together with two other trucks and the Bren Carriers. Next morning, Sunday, somewhere out of sight of land the Officer in charge called us together and told us that due to very bad weather conditions the operation had been postponed for at least 24 hours. Small comfort for us as the boat was performing the most fantastic feats of tursting, turning, and standing on its nose. On Monday morning the Officer again called us together and read out that the operation was on in spite of the weather, and continued by reading a message of good lack from 'Monty' and 'Ike', as we called our leaders. We spent the day checking our vehicles, as I was one of three of the M.T. platoon, [crossed out] and [end crossed out] the carrier platoon chaps were rather like strangers so it is rather difficult for me to remember anyone in particular, and I only knew one of the drivers his name is Jimmy Probart. The rest of our motor transport were on landing craft that would follow us later.

Strange as it may seem, we slept with that night such was the attitude of complete and absolute trust we all felt in the coming landing. (I cannot express myself very well I am afraid, but even today when I think of those two days aboard the L.C.T. I can feel, really feel the attitude of, or should I say air of confidence that surrounded us.) I woke early on the 6th and was surprised at the quiet, they looking about I saw the Infantry landing craft all around us as for as the eye could see, those nearest had their landing barge davit ropes still hanging down the sides. Looking to the shore (it looked almost English) that is when the tossing boat settled for a minute and I could see. there was little to indicate that a war was being fought, the beach was quiet, a few puffs of smoke from over the hill facing us, the inevitable barbed wire, and as we got closer things changed we saw the muzzles of guns almost hidden in the sand, but we could'nt see any casualties on the beach which puzzled us until later when I had chance of looking about I found the guns abright Rusted up. useless except as scarecrowes. Then with a crash the ramp was dropped and we started ashore, apart from spray we made a dry landing, right smack in front of a minefield. We went along the beach for a few hundred yards before turning off into a village where we turned was a massive gun turret all black and grey, but as one looked closer it was seen to be a fake, just a wooden dummy! As we went in [?colum?] over the hill I saw my first french signboard ' Mont de Fleury ' that, I believe was when I first realised that we had actualy landed in France. After dropping my load with the Battalion, I returned to the beach for further supplies which were being landed, all day I went back and forth with ammo, water, [?comforations?] anything that was necessary to keep the