Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 020, folder 44: Leslie Walter Ford

FORD, Leslie Walter British Royal Marines 1st S. S. Brig. BOX 20, #44

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

What is your full name? Leslie Walter Ford

What is your present address? 35, Wallisdean Avenue, Fareham, Hampshire.

Telephone number:

What was your unit, division, corps? 30th Assault Unit Royal Marines attached to the 1st S. S. Brigade.

Where did you land and at what time? St Aubun or St Aubin - sur - mer. This place is roughly in a direct line with Caen.

What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? Royal Marine Signalman 2nd Class and a marksman. Nineteen and half years of age (19 1/2 yrs)

Were you married at that time? No

What is your wife's name?

Did you have any children at that time?

When did, you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? A week before or more we were locked up in a camp and brified.

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? I remember coming up from below and seeing Portsmouth and Gosport where I was born and other familiar place glide by and I wondered if I should ever return to them again. Although even on the eve of D-DAY the whole thing seemed unreal.

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.) I cannot recall any.

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No but I have always been keen on writing and long before I saw your "advert" I have continually gone over these events, because I hope to get out an autobiography

2 .

Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? As I had only joined this unit a very short time before I don't think I had any real friends certainly not to affect me intimately.

Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties?

Were you wounded? No not on D-DAY itself although I did get blown up shortly afterwards

How were you wounded? Shell from Heaven knows where

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? A tremendous explosion, my nose rubbed in the dirt, slowly picking one' self up, a careful examination to make sure that I was still in one piece. Surprized and pleased to be alive and a certain amount of satisfaction that I had not heard the shell coming. I had read of the 1914 - 18 war that when you heard a shell coming you had time to duck but the one with your name on it was never heard.

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? There are [crossed out] seval [end crossed out] several but two very early incidents stick out. A tremendous barrage greeted us and we felt like sitting ducks yet a Royal MArine officer in charge of the boat or craft said, " We are too early yet ", so we cruised parellel with the beach for about five minutes. Practically on the beach itself a Frenchman appeared to given a running commentary on the situation to a few frightened French villages.

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? I remember the turret of an Allied opened up and an officer screamed at as to get out of the way, we did so, the tank went on a little way, and then blew up. A French priest denieng that his church tower was being used by German snipers, further casualties by the Canadians and a heavy gun brought up and the whole tower and best part of the Church being blown up. A confident and very brave Canadian officer, being wounded for the third time came back P.T.O.

got a dressing put on and then went forward again.

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? A R.M. Commando (a major) was wounded in the stomach, he swore continually at his batman to get a wheelbarrow and in this he was pushed up and down the beach, swearing at his men to go on. A chap who was blown up at the same time as myself, picked himself up and proceeded to chase a butterfly around a field, he claimed it was a rare specimen but I thought that this title was more applicable to him.

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 I am sorry I cannot help here, naturally the airborne troops that landed at 1 A.M. approx would have the finest tales and the most interesting expreriences

What do you do now? I am a rolling stone temporary halted but liable to be off at any moment.

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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I must stress [inserted] how [end inserted] [?unreal?] the whole thing seemed to be at the outset. Waking up on the 6th we heard a sound like thunder in the distance, we could not believe it was a duel between the German batteries and our warships. Our envy of the sailors and merchant seamen who lowered us over the side, whised us good luck and turned away not towards the enemy. The very rough sea, sometimes the landing craft disappearing from sight so that perhaps only a dozen boats appeared to be taking on this tremendous task of knocking a hole in the Atlantic Wall. Two sailors in our boat being violently sick and our passing round of the appropiate paper bags that had been issued for that purpose. As Royal Marines we had spent a long period of training at sea in small craft and we held sailors in contempt. In landing I grabbed a stone not an ordinary stone but a French one, we had arrived and to prove it we were there. One thing I shall never forget is the sight of many Royal Marine Commando's heavily [crossed out] laded [end crossed out] ladened swimming strongly or struggling for the shore.