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He had two girl friends, nurses who had attended him in a Danish hospital
and after the war began he wondered what had happened to them - Oreida
Eingebourg Christiansen and Ylva Neilsen. He was so worried about them
that he even resolved that if England was invaded he ’’might do away with
his wife and daughter”. He had never told them of this and he knew in
his heart that he would never do such a thing but he kept on saying to
himself that he "might have to do it". He remembered in Lille during the
retreat back to the Froich coast ( he had been a despatch rider at the time)
he had run into a cul-de-sac and suddenly, horrified, he saw hundreds of
men, women and children who had been machine gunned in a body. ” There
were hundreds and hundreds of spent machine gun bullets all around ”, he said.
"They had been herded into the cul-de-sac and brutally murdered. Up to
that time I had thought that it was a clean war”. It was this sight
more than any [crossed out] thing [end crossed out] other single experience that made Hollis, from that
moment on, a killer - a ruthless, calculating one at that. From that
moment on, "I had no mercy, no compassion” and ” if I took a prisoner, it
was by coincidence.”

He knew he could never be a regular army peacetime sergeant because "I
could never put a man on charge for not cleaning his boots!" On the other
hand during the war he could have cheerfully killed a member of his
Company for running away. Although tough as a Company Sergeant Major had
to be he also was the type to look after the less experienced, the young
soldiers.

One of them was Private Youngs, batman to Lieutenant Kirkpatrick, a platoon
commander of D Company. Somehow he knew Youngs was going to get it.
(No explanation)
Sergeant Rufty Hill, killed the moment the ramps went down. "Rufty”
lived about 8 miles away. He was frightened of nothing. They had
been through the war together ” when the war is over”, Rufty said ’’I’m
going to come over and live in France. They tell me the French girls
are really smashin”. "I just want to come back home”, Hollis told him.

Rufty always carried more ammunition than anybody else ’’Where did you get
all the ammo", Hollis asked. "That 's my business Stan - no questions,
no pack drill”, Rufty answered. "But I'll sort out old Fritz when I get
there. Anyway they can afford the ammo - it 's a big firm Stan. You're
not buying it so why worry."

It was the ammo that killed him. When they landed Rufty went into a
shell hole. The ammo pulled him down and before he could swim to the
surface the landing craft drifted over him.

They hit the beach at 7.30 in the first wave. D Company and A Company
were the two assaulting Companies for 50 Division. There was about
108 in each Company and they were landed in LCA's- about 16 in each craft.
About 10 craft in all.

In Hollis' craft was the Company CO, Major Ronald Lofthouse ( got MC for D-Day).

His Company’ s objective was the battery at Mont Fleury. Their assault
area was about 200 yards on their left were two assaulting companies of
the 5 East Yorkshire Regt and Hollis' right 2 C6's of the Dorsets and
2 of the Hampshire Regts plus 47 Commando.

Going in with Hollis is two of his pals, Private Paddy Mullally and
Private Charlish a Bren gunner. Charlish said ’’There’ s no need to worry
about it - when it’s time you’ll get it and you can’d do nowt about it.”
Rufty said ” Ah well, lets get at them now and sort them out”. Mullally
said "By the Holy fortune, here we go.”

There was smoke and fog covering the beach. They knew there was a marsh
that was mined back of the beach, beyond the high water mark and beyond
that a coastal road running parallel with the beach. They could see their
objective as rget made their run in. It lay at the top of a road running

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