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- for Cornelius Ryan 3 -
Your name PETER F. MASTERS

In times of great crisis , people generally show either great ingenuity or
self - reliance; others do incredibly stupid things. Do you remember any
examples of either ?
During the night, in the village of Varaville, which I believe
to have been just about the leftmost location reached by Allied
troops on D-day - troops that weren't lost and made it back,
I mean - our scanty troop was counter attacked vigorously.
A man we luckily had along was a volunteer from
the Royal Artillery - a Lance Bombardier. He somehow managed
to figure out how a cap[t]ured 3.7 Antitank gun worked, with
the help of my translations of the inscriptions. He also managed
to train his buddy as his Number 2, passing ammunition. And
he managed to get permission to fire the thing in case of emergency.
When that time came, he fired the gun, knocking a hole in a building
by mistake at first, but eventually most effectively.
Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944 ?
somewhere in the middle of the channel
Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944? In the village of Varaville - on the road to Cabourg from Troarn. We did pull out the next morning - when we happened to pick up a message to do so on our almost defunct radio, having been posted missing.
Do you know of anybody else who landed within those 24 hours ( midnight
June 5 to midnight June 6 ) as infantry , glider or airborne troops ,
who took part in the air and sea operations , whom we should write to ?
I know a lot of people in my unit and in
neighboring units who were there at that time,
of course. As far as 'offbeat' cases are concerned,
you might be interested in the French Commandos
(there were two troops attached to No 4 Commando)
for whom this was sort of a homecoming. I remember
particularly their commanding officer Capitain Kieffler,
who was wounded on the beach; Capitain Lofi; Corporal
Bogadore, and a man I used to go on patrol with,
Ducas. I think I could find out their addresses, if
necessary.

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;
YOUR NAME AND VOCATION OR OCCUPATION WILL BE LISTED.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.
Cornelius Ryan
Frances Ward
Research, The Reader's Digest