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- for Cornelius Ryan 2 -
Your name Herman v. Wall
Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day?
No diary, but a complete scarp book of letters, magazine and news clippings. Citations
Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or
during the day?
A yank Magazine photographer was killed by the same shell that caught me.
I can't recall his name at this time but will send it along or it is
in the scarp book. Pete Paris
Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became
casualties?
The Yank photographer and I [crossed out] [illegible] [end crossed out] met in the marshalling area and had
several days together. He had completed the landings in Africa and Sicily
and was assigned to cover the landings for Yank.
Pete Paris should definitely be mentioned in your book.
Were you wounded?
Yes. Left leg amputated. Left Arm and right leg shrapnel wounds.
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?
Surprised. shook, but did not loose consciousness. Ten or fifteen men were
hit by the same explosion, some killed, some wounded andI was able to have
an aid man put a turniquet on my leg, not realizing the other wounds which
clogged up with the uniform,. and told them to carry me down to the beach
were he boats were coming [inserted] in [end inserted]. this they did and was picked up later by an
Amphibious Jeep and taken to a larger craft in the Channel.
Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now; even though it did not, or course, seem amusing at the time?
i was fortunate for not many wounded were taken off the beach for several
days. I regained consciousness during the night of June 6th on an English
LCT when the Medics applied first aid and trimmed off the leg. At this time
I discovered that my camera was missing which I had the presence of mind to
ruck into my blouse. It still had the roll of exposed film taken on the
beach. I called the Captain of the LGT and he had possesion of it. He returned
it to me and again it was replaced under my blouse. The next thing I
remembered was that I was being transferred by crane from one ship to another, in the harbour. The Americans had one side and the English the other.
I heard someone yell "That man is dead" and it was me he was pointing to.
I replied something to the effect of "To hell I am" and discovered that my
camera was missing again. I called for the Skipper who again returned the
camera to me.

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck
you more than anything else?

Eight months later while a patient at Percy Jones General Hospital I was
in the lobby on crutches talking to a veteran in a wheel chair. He had
one leg amputated and the other in a cast and during the conversation
discovered that we were on the same beach at the same time. I asked him
up to our ward where I had copies of the pictures that the War Dept. had
sent to me. He was in a Beach Brigrade and I remembered that I had made
pictures of a Beach Brigrade making their landing. By coincidence I had
a full length picture of him coming up the beach. Of a million men, I met
one of the men I photographed eight months later in the Army Hospital.
I do not recall his name but have it in the scrap book. I made copies
in the hospital lab and gave him the negative and several prints of same.