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THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY
D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 — MIDNIGHT JUNE 6
Ack 2/6/58
What is your full name? Niels William John White
What is your present address? 54 Dale Wood Rd. Orpington, Kent
Telephone number: ORPINGTON 225588
What was your unit, division, corps? Attached 5th Bn. East Yorks 50th (Northumbrian) Div.
Where did you land and at what time? King Red Beach, Arromanches? H-10 approx 06.50.
What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? 2/lt, 20 years old
Were you married at that time? No
What is your wife’s name? Josephine White
Did you have any children at that time? No
When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? A few weeks before
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? Rough sea, slept part of time and watched the bombardment as well as the other ships.
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.) No.
Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No
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Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? My company commander was wounded & put back on the landing craft, the second in command killed & another platoon cmdr. killed. Out of 2 coys we had enough people to form 1 new one.
Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? No
Were you wounded? Slightly - on one finger
How were you wounded? I was only a few feet from an exploding mortar bomb and when I appeared out of the smoke & debris my troops seemed most astonished
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? No pain but only very slight anyway.
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? I remember thinking at the time of landing how many worm casts there were on the beach, later noticing that they were not worm casts at all but bullets from the German machine guns
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? D+1 we were straffed by planes of the U.S.A.F. as we entered St. Leger.
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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 serjeant who was one of my best in training proved most unreliable during action, whilst one of my mediocre corporals proved himself to be invaluable.
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? Major K.C. Harrison formerly - 73 Market Str Hyde, Cheshire
What do you do now? I am a furbroker
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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Telephone Orpington 25588
1 Extract
TOR-BRYAN, DALE WOOD ROAD, ORPINGTON, KENT.
21st May, 1958
23MAY1958 Q.S. 23/5/58
Box 9851 "Evening Standard" Co. Ltd., 47 Shoe Lane, London, E. C. 4.
Dear Sir, With reference to your advertisement in the Evening Standard of the 20th May, I took part in the Normandy landing at the time you state, and if I can be of any assistance perhaps you will get in touch with me.
Yours faithfully,
Niels White
Niels White.