Box 025, folder 17: Ronald G. Shawcross

SHAWCROSS, Ronald G.

Canadian 3rd Can. Div.

BOX 25, #17

RCA Winnipeg, MANITOBA EXCERPT

For Cornelius Ryan Book about D-day

THOUSANDS OF MEN, ON LAND AND SEA AND IN THE AIR, PARTICIPATED IN THE INVASION OF NORMANDY BETWEEN MIDNIGHT JUNE 5, 1944 AND MIDNIGHT JUNE 6, 1944. IF YOU WERE ONE OF THEM, PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.

What is your full name? Ronald Gendall, SHAWCROSS

What was your unit and division? A Company 7th Brigade First Battalion, Regina Rifles Regiment, 3rd Division (Canadian)

Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time? 0735hrs June 6th.

What was your rank on June 6, 1944? Captain - 2/ic of the Company.

What was your age on June 6, 1944? 28 yrs.

Were you married at that time? yes

What is your wife's name? Mary Elizabeth.

Did you have any children at that time? no

What do you do now? Manager of Winnipeg Envelope Company.

10 When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? We had been in the invasion Forces for over a year but actually did not know what portion or part in the invasion we were going to play until we arrived in the concentration area. Other than that we had know for some time we were going to do the job.

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? The trip was very smooth during the early part of the evening but got rough late at night, and when we were dropped off in the Landing Craft steamer assault from the davits of the cross channel we were on the sea was very rough, and as soon as we had gone a wave length away from the ship we could not see it when we were down in a trough. This was approx. 10 miles from shore. If I remember there were no memorable conversations carried on. Most of the boys played Poker or discussed plans, lounged around. Most of us went to bed fairly early if I remember correctly, to be wakened by the Steward in the morning, and something went amiss there and we were not awakened early enough to get our grogg issue, we then had it placed aboard each of the LCA's, and then the Invasion was postponed for 20 or 25min and we had time to have it aboard ship, consequently, when we got into the LCA'S also found our Rum issue there. The high-light of the whole trip I think; was the fact that we were served Bacon and Eggs for breakfast, that is real eggs with shells on. The trip was so rough that I think with the exception of the [crossed out] Coxin [end crossed out] Coxswain and myself in the LCA, all the rest of troops were sea-sick, or very nearly so.

What were the rumors on board the boat, ship or plane in which you made the crossing? (Some people remember scuttlebut to the effect that the Germans had poured gasoline on the water and planned to set it afire when the troops came in). There were no great rumors aboard ship. We all knew that we were going to France or had a pretty fair idea, as we were all given French money for our English pounds. The only thing was, that we did not know at exactly what portion of France we were going to land and there was great speculations as to that. There was no great scuttlebut amongst our troops, everything appeared to have been planned so well and the information had been passed down to us that the Mine-fields were to have been cleared and the area was to be so well protected that we did'nt worry too much. After all it was just like another practice that we had done so many times before, with the exception that we saw and passed hundreds of ships on our way over. Travelling in steamers of course we travelled much faster and left later than the ordinary Landing Craft Tank, etc. The main thing I seem to remember as far as the action of the troops are concerned when it comes to rumors, was the fact that most everybody threw their Respirators over-board, and used their cases to carry their extra socks, as most of us that were landing in the Assault Wave only had the small pack for our personal belongings.

- for Cornelius Ryan 2 - Your name

13 Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No I did not keep a diary.

14 Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? Yes! in our Company we lost something like 120 - wounded or killed, out of 146. I cannot remember the exact number. For example, My Batman was killed along side of me.

15 Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? Yes! We had some conversations, but mainly these conversations concerned their rights or not rights to land in the assault wave.

16 Were you wounded? No I was not wounded on "D" Day.

Do you remember what it was like--that is, do you remember whether you felt any pain or were so surprised that you felt nothing?

17 Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it may not have seemed funny at the time? There did'nt seem to be any thing funny that I can remember at the present moment, as most of it struck with a deep tragedy. Loosing so many men in the initial wave was a bit of a shock, plus the fact, that the other assault Company that was to have come in with us did not land at the time, due to accidents in the water. Though I can remember taking a Cpl. prisoner that was carrying a Luger with a rubber nose-cap over it. I still have the gun to this date. The thing that probably impressed me most after the initial assault was over was, the willingness of the German to surrender in such large numbers to such a small group of men when he had us, in our sector, practically beat, and then, very carefully looked after our wounded.

18 Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else? The thing that impressed me as heroic at the time, was a young Platoon Commander we had by the name of Billy Grayson, now a Captain, who won the M.C.(Military Cross) and his act was that he just waved his pistol in the air and went charging into these large Pillboxes, with no apparent thought for life nor limb. The other one was, a Cpl. Muirhead, that we had as a stretcher bearer, who continuously waded out into the water, dragging the wounded ashore, who was later wounded and he himself was awarded the MM. One of the things that struck me as funny, was the taking of two Italian prisoners of war, and to this date I do not know if they were Major Generals or just plain Privates of the line, but their beautiful dress uniform was amazing.

- for Cornelius Ryan 3 - Your name

19 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 from D-day? I don't know if this would come under ingenuity or not, but out of the Squadron of Tanks that was supposed to be with us there were only two that arrived on shore, and one which had its Wireless blown out, and the other which gun would'nt fire, through damage one way or another. The one with the gun that would'nt fire, continued to lead the way to the other boys by bluffing its way forward, swinging its gun from side to side as we moved over the concrete slit trenches towards the Pillboxes, until we had rounded up all the Jerries. The whole action though - was such a jumbled up mess that nothing stood out too vividly in my mind and memory as to ingenuity and sel-reliance, with this exception that, when we tried to crawl through barbed-wire entanglements that separated us from the beach and the actual shore its self, the first man through got riddled with Machine Gun bullets that were fired from both ends of the strip of wire, and apparently on fixed lines, and one of my Corporal's said what a stupid bunch of so and so's, and proceeded to jump over the fence, and all twenty odd of us went over the fence in the same manner without getting shot, though the Machine Guns continued to fire down the strip of wire.

20 Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944? We were approximately 5miles inland covering three river crossings with the men that were with us.

21 Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944? We were at our "D" day objective sitting across the[ crossed out] Con [end crossed out] [inserted] Caen [end inserted] Bayeu Highway, and spread out for approximately a mile toour left and half mile in front, of course covering far more Battalion frontage than we should do.

Do you know of anybody else who landed within the 24 hours of D-day, June 6, as infantry, glider or airborne troops, or who took part in the air and sea operations, whom we should write to? Major - H.D. Knox, c/o The University of Manitoba, WINNIPEG, Manitoba. Also the people in our Regiment. You can the records from the Regimential Headquarters and the Winnipeg Rifles from Major Knox. There is a Lt./Col Fraser Edy, living somewhere near Winnipeg or in Winnipeg, who landed with the Airborne Troops. You would have to get his address through Major Knox

Re: Question 19 I remember one other funny incident. On the way forward with what was left of "A" Company, we came to a little rise in the ground, almost a small hill in which there seemed to be 50 or 60 troops on top of it, dressed in rather a pecular uniform, it almost looked like a jumpers but not quite. Sgt.Major and I took Machine Guns and started forward to see who they were as they looked to be friendly troops, and on the way up to them at the bottom of this rise of land we captured 4 Or 5 German prisoners out of slit trenches. We took them up with us and found some English troops who looked like Engineers there, who wanted to know what we were doing there, and of course we requested the same information. They apparent ly had landed shortly after us on "D" Day and had gone straight in instead of following the winding river as we did. So we turned the prisoners over to them, much to their objections, and finally had to wait while the Captain in charge of these troops pulled his pistol out and proceeded to load it and by this time he was 4 or 5 miles within France in enemy territory.

At about 1700hrs on "D" Day. It was rather evident that none of these troops were prepared to fight. The prisoners that we had captured were somewhat in the neighborhood of 50yrds away from them.

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

WINNIPEG ENVELOPE COMPANY

MANUFACTURERS and PRINTERS OF ENVELOPES 63 GERTIE STREET WINNIPEG, MAN.

August 14, 1958.

Miss Frances Ward, Research Dept., The Readers Digest, 230 Park Avenue, NEK YORK 17, New York.

Dear Miss Ward:

Reference: Letters to the Editor, in the July Legionary. My name is - R.G. Shawcross, Rank - Major. Formally of the First Battalion, Regina Rifles Regiment, 3rd Canadian Division, and in the initial assault wave on June 6, 1944 at 0735hrs. My Rank at that time was Captain - 2/ic of the Company, and was at that time 28yrs of age, Married. My Wife's name is Mary Elizabeth, with no children. I am now Manager - of the Winnipeg Envelope Company. Whether I can give you much information on "D" Day, I do not know!

However, Headquarters for the Regina Rifles, is in Regina. They have published a history, and they have some excellent records which you could obtain by going to the Militia HQ of the Regina Rifles Regiment, or contacting Lt/Col. Gordon Baird, c/o of Department of Veterans Affairs, in Regina, who was Intelligence Officer of the Regiment at that time.

I can also put you in touch with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, who were the other portion of the assault wave of the Brigade, and I would suggest that, to secure this information that you write to Major H.D. Knox, c/o The University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba. He can advise you just how to get the information concerning the part of the Winnipeg Rifles, in this assault.

Trusting that the above will be of information to you, and please feel free to write if I can help you further.

Yours Truly, R Shawcross

R.G. Shawcross,

RGS/jgmp