ENPages
Page 2
THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 -- MIDNIGHT JUNE 6
Ack 27/5/58
What is your full name? FREDRICK WILLIAM EMMETT
What is your present address? 1 KNOX HOUSE RANELAGH ESTATE LOWER RICHMOND ROAD PUTNEY SW15. LONDON.
Telephone number: -
What was your unit, division, corps? A TROOP 320 BTY 93rd LAA REGT.
Where did you land and at what time? VER SUR MERE (BEACH KING OR QUEEN) BETWEEN 11-30AM [illegible] 2pm RED ?
What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? L/BDR 23yrs
Were you married at that time? NO
What is your wife's name? WINIFRED
Did you nave any children at that time? -
When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? WE KNEW WE WOULD BE TAKEING PART, QUITE A TIME BEFORE IT HAPPENING BECAUSE OF THE TRAINING WE DID, BUT WAS SURE WHEN WE GOT PAID OUT IN FRENCH FRANC'S, A DAY OR SO BEFORE WE EMBARKED.
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? THE CROSSING WAS QUITE GOOD, JUST A BIT CHOPPY. SOME OF THE CHAPS WERE SEASICK, ONLY BECAUSE WHEN THE OFFICER WAS BRIEFING US HE TOOK US DOWN TO THE ROOM NEXT TO THE ENGINE ROOM AND WE GOT THE SMELL OF DESSIEL OIL. MOST OF THE TIME WAS SPENT PLAYING CARDS (BRAG) CHAPS WAS TRYING TO GET RID OF THERE £. [?SD.?] BECAUSE THEY [inserted] DID [end inserted] KNEW WHEN THEY WOULD GOT A CHANCE TO SPEND IT AGAIN
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.) WE NEVER HEARD ANY RUMOURS LIKE THAT, THE ONLY RUMOURS WE HEARD WAS THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE COAST WE WERE GOING TO LAND NONE OF THEM WAS RIGHT.
Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? NO, A MONTH OR LESS BEFORE WE WENT TO SOUTHAMPTON WE HAD TO TURN OUR KITS OUT SO THAT ALL THINGS LIKE DIARY'S, CAMERAS, AND PAPERS WITH UNIT IDENTS ON THEM HAD TO BE DUMPED OR LEFT WITH KIT THAT WAS NOT GOING WITH US.
Page 3
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 outof-place?
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else?
THE THING THAT HAS STUCK IN MY MIND MOST SINCE THAT DAY WAS WHEN WE GOT TO THE TOP OF BEACH, WAS THE SIGHT OF SEEING ABOUT 12 TO 15 DEAD TOMMYS LYING SIDE BY SIDE JUST COVERED UP WITH SACKS, I WONDERED IF THERE WAS ANYBODY I KNEW THERE, AND HOW THEIR FOLKS WOULD TAKE THE NEWS WHEN THEY GOT IT. BECAUSE I HAD A BROTHER LOST IN SINGAPORE, AND ANOTHER CAPTURED IN ANZIO BEACH HEAD.
Page 4
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?
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?
What do you do now? I AM NOW A CHEMICAL PROCESS WORKER SINCE I LEFT THE ARMY IN 1946. BUT DONT KNOW WHAT I SHALL BE DOING AFTER AUGUST AS THE FIRM I WORK FOR ARE MOVING NORTH.
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
Page 5
WE CROSSED TO FRANCE ON A TANK LANDING CRAFT USA NAVY WHILE WE WERE ON IT WE TOOK TURNS IN MANING THEIR BOFOR A/A GUNS, SOME OF US TOOK DOUBLE TURNS BECAUSE WE DIDNT LIKE BEING LOCK IN THE SLEEPING QUARTERS WHICH WAS THE RULE AFTER DARK, WHEN WE GOT NEAR THE BEACH THE BOWS OF THE SHIP OPENED AND WE GOT ONTO WHAT THEY CALLED RHINO, LIKE A LOT OF WATER TANKS FITTED TOGETHER WITH A LITTLE MOTOR AT THE BACK, AND THAT TOOK US CLOSE TO THE BEACH. THE GUNS WE HAD WAS TRIPLE HORLICANS, SOME MOUNTED ON TANKS AND OTHERS ON CHASIS. I THINK WE WERE THE ONLY REGT WITH THESE GUNS. AS WE GOT OFF THE SHIP IT WAS TURNED INTO A HOSPITAL TO BRING THE WOUNDED BACK TO ENGLAND. A VERY GOOD JOB THESE U.S.A. SAILORS DONE.
Hoping these few lines will help you with the story. Yours Sincerely FW Emmett