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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? James J. Coyle
What was your unit and division? E Company , 505th Parachute Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division
Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time? Landed by parachute about one quarter mile North East of Ste. Mere Eglise at approximately 1 A.M. June 6 , 1944.
What was your rank on June 6, 1944? Second Lieutenant
What was your age on June 6, 1944> 25
Were you married at that time? No
What is your wife's name? Ethel C. Coyle
Did you have any children at that time? --
What do you do now? Accountant with the New York office of the American Tobacco Company.
When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? From a long range educated guess , when the Division sailed from Naples , Italy to Ireland. We knew that it was a matter of a day or two when we arrived at the air field at Cottesmore , England about June 4 and noted the security measures in force.
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 ? As jumpmaster my seat was next to the open door of the C-47 that flew us in , so the noise of the engines and the prop blast made any conversation other than shouted commands impossible. At one time in the flight I recall one of the men got stuck in the door of the latrine in the rear of the plane , parachute and all , and we pried him out very gently as I was afraid that he might pop the cover off his chute. If it had billowed open inside the crowded plane , it really would have complicated the jump. Most of the time I just watched the bright moonlight on the water below and "sweated out ” the coming operation.
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). None
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Your name James J . Coyle
Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No
Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? 1st Lieutenant Roper Peddicord, a find officer who was Platoon Leader of the 3rd Platoon of E Company, was killed sometime after landing by a German sniper.
Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties ? Just after the briefing, before we boarded the planes in England he and I had made a bet resulting from the detailed plan he had made for his platoon in accomplishing their initial objectives. I held that it was better to wait until we were on the ground to see what men and weapons were available to us, how close we landed to our objectives and the strength and position of the enemy, before giving detailed assignments to each squad. We had bet five pounds on whether or not he would be able to use the plan he had worked out on the map in England. As it turned out, he and the men in his plans landed quite a distance from the company and his objective, and he was killed while leading his own men to rejoin E Company. I wish I had lost that bet.
Were you wounded? I was wounded on June 7.
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? I remember very well that it was like a terrific kick in the seat of the pants which should give you a general idea of where I was shot.
Do you remember seeing or or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time ? Our combat suits had been especially impregnated for this one operation with a chemical to resist gas attack. It had a strong odor and wel all smelled to high heaven. In addition we had been issued one item of equipment to signal each other while assembling after the jump. It was similar to the toy kids used to get in a crackerjack box which made a noise like a cricket when it was pressed and released rapidly. Between the smell of the suits and the buzzing of those "crickets" on the DZ I'm sure that the Germans thought they were being attacked by an army of locusts.
Do you recall any incident , sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else? See attached sheet.
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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? I am sure that other men of the Second Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment will have told you of our Battalion Commander Lt. Col.Benjamin Vandejyoort, who broke his ankle on the jump. He remained in action with his foot in a cast, hobbling along on a crutch with the lead elements of his battalion, even in attack. He was a great source of inspiration to the men of his command.
Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944? On the plane crossing the English Channel.
Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944? Dug in on the edge of the town of Ste. Mere Eglise under a heavy artillery barrage.
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, or who took part in the air and sea operations, whom we should write to? All of the men whose addresses I have are on the list of names which you received from Don Lassen, Publisher of the E Company "Poop Sheet".
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 5/1/58
Frances Ward Research, The Reader *s Digest
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For Cornelius Ryan Book about D-Day
Your name--James J. Coyle
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else?
One incident stands out in my mind for several reasons, one of which is that it began with just one of the closest calls that I had in the war. Just before dark on June 6th, glider units of the 82nd Airborne Division made a drop in the area around Ste. Mere Eglise. I had seen several cut loose from the town planes above us but most of them landed away from our platoon position, which was in a field on the edge of the town. I was standing in a ditch along the edge of a road which bounded our platoon area when I heard a teriffic crash behind me. As I turned I saw a glider crashing through some large trees across the road. I just had time to drop in the ditch which was about two feet deep and the glider slid across the road stopping with the wing right on top of me and extending along the ditch. By some miracle, I didn't get a scratch, but when I crawled from under the wing I saw that the glider, which was a large British "Horsa" type made mostly of wood, had struck a large tree which split it the entire length of one side. The men seated on the other side were just crawling out of the wreckage. Of approximately 35 men and two offiers in the glider, about half got out under their own power, including a Lieutenant. From him I learned that they were from one of our Division Artillery Battalions. He wanted to remain to aid his injured men but he had an artillery piece in another glider which landed nearby, and we needed artillery support badly. By promising to take care of his injured as best we could, I persuaded him to take his men who were not injured as best we could, I persuaded him to take his men who were not injured and get the gun in action. All of the men we dug out of the wreckage were unconscious or semi-conscious, and they were all badly injured. Darkness had fallen by the time we had the first few out and the Germans had started to shell the area with a heavy barrage which continued all that night. Working in the dark we were able to locate the men in the tangled debris only by their moans and cries. I found one kid, semi-conscious, who was actually calling for his mother. This was hard to take because there wasn't a great deal we could do for them other than wrap them in blankets and parachutes to try to keep them from going into shock, put them in trenches to protect them from the artillery, and give them a shot of morphine when they regained consciousness. We were afraid to try to move them very far until the medics got to them for fear of killing them, since we had no way of telling how many were hurt internally. It must have taken a couple of hours to find them all and get them out. I recall that the last one we found was the pilot. The only way we recognised him was that we couldn't lift him at first, until we discovered that he was wearing a heavy metal flak suit which probably saved his life. He was unconscious, but as it later turned out had escaped with a broken ankle. By coincidence, when I was evacuated to a field hospital on Utah beach two days later, I was put on a truck with a glider pilot who had a broken ankle. When I questioned him, we discrovered that he was the one I had found in the wrecked glider at Ste. Mers Eglise. Although none of the men were killed, many of them were so beat up that I can't say if they survived after they made the aid station the next day. Of the men who worked on the wreck I can recall T.L. Peterson, K.L. Russell, and Ben Popilsky (later killed in action in Holland). ("Pete" Peterson and Ken Russell are on the E Company Poop Sheets mailing list.) Prior to the Normandy operation, the "Glider Riders" were looked down upon by the paratroopers but after Normandy, I never heard an experienced paratrooper knock a glider man. Every paratrooper who made the Normandy operation would thereafter freely admit that if given the choice of going into combat by glider or parachute, he'd take the parachute.