Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 021, folder 29: Frank Charles Johnson

JOHNSON, Frank Charles British 50th Div. Box 21, #29

Ack 27/5/58

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

What is your full name? Frank Charles Johnson What is your present address? 65 The Vale Uxbridge Road Acton London W3 Telephone number: What was your unit, division, corps? 86 Field Regt RA Hertfordshire Yeomanry Supporting the 50th Northumbrian Division

Where did you land and at what time? Approximately a mile West of the Beach Town of the Riviere

What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? S/Bdn 24 yrs 6 months

Were you married at that time? No What is your wife's name? Christine Did you nave any children at that time? No

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? About 3 weeks before when we were briefed at a camp at Romsey Hants

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? We loaded at Southhampton laying in the Solent untill Monday morning. It was very rough, most of the time we slept when not being seasick. most of us wondered if the ship was going to hold together.

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.) as it was the flat-bottomed all welded type and every time the screws came up -- the water she tried to shake to pieces

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No definitely not it was against all rules and regulations

2. Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? none of my particular friends a man with my name was wounded as our mail got mixed later on

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? yes none of us had ever been under fire before. but had been together for the best part of 3 years and had always been at the delivery end of the guns and how we laughed at the distant splashes unused by German shells untill suddenly a salvo straddled our landing craft near enough

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? One I shall always remember was the sight of 2 naval guns mounted on a landing craft manned by crews -- of Royal Marines stripped to the waist and without any armour plating around the guns they were firing point blank into the houses facing the sea I remember how we cheered them so

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? At the top of the ramp on our landing craft was a big roll of canvas and chestnut paling this had to be released and should have rolled away and acted as a carpet for the vehicles in the rough seas that were running at the time one of our gunners was nearly drowned in trying to release the thing but he persisted in his efforts untill we could cut it lose -- altogether for the craft could not have pushed ashore with its foulling and wrapping itself around everthing 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? Mr R Croxford 3 Church Lane Hockliffe Leigton Buzzard Bedfordshire

What do you do now? I am now in woodmachinist

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

for us to feel the blast, it cooled our confidence in no uncertain manner and caused quite a rush for the toilets, which in turn caused quite a laugh amongst ourselves