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[?LL?]
GA
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AB-E
[?Lt. Benning?]
GA-2

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 ? Jonathan Edwards Adams Jr.

What was your unit and division?
CO A 508 Parachute [inserted]82[end inserted] Inf. Regiment

Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time?
[crossed out]approximately one[end crossed out] 1:20 oclock in the morning D-Day
6 June 1944

What was your rank on June 6, 1944?
Captain

What was your age on June 6, 1944?
26

Were you married at that time? No

What is your wife's name?

Did you have any children at that time? No.

What do you do now? Army Officer

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion?
We knew that we would be a part of the invasion
about Feb 1944. I was briefed on our specific mission in
Early May.

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 uneventful. Most of the men slept. In fact it seemed pretty much
like a training jump. At various times I had jumped with all the different plane loadings in
my company. Each one reacted differently before a jump, and was usually a reflection of the
personality of the jumpmaster. Some planes sang, others talked: mine just said nothing
therefore the reactions on the trip to Normandy were not unusual. At various points
along the route every one would wake up and take notice of what was going on. For example:
when we left the coast of England, we passed over part of the invasion fleet. I think that
we could see the tremendous number of boats spread out before us. Another point was
when we hit the light ship in the channel right on schedule and headed towards Normandy.
the anti Aircraft fire from Jersey & Guernsey occurred (out of range) just as we had been briefed.
Likewise when we hit the coast of Normandy a searchlight way to the north went on. And just
as the Air Corps had told us [illegible] dropped from some where and the light went out. About
the only remarks made were to the effect that it looked like for once the Air Corps wasn't going
to screw up and we would get a [inserted]drop.[end inserted]

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.)
And the Germans know when we were landing and where? After all many of the
men had been able to figure out where we were going to jump from the nature of our training
problems and the time from the full moon, tides etc. It did not help when about
a week before the jump our mission was changed because of the build up of anti-parachute
obstacles on our intended DZ. We were also scheduled to jump on the fifth so
when the newspapers on the fifth carried the story about the [?teleprompter?] operation
[?pretending?] and giving a false [illegible] of the invasion we had our doubts. Further no
on the 5th of June we received some [illegible] photos taken that day of our new
drop zone. There seemed to be an unusual amount of traffic on the roads around it
As near as I could determine no one in the company really expected that we would be
dropping with any great element of surprised. At the same time, looking back on it,
it was [?remarkable?] that none of my men or officers seemed at all perturbed
about it.