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For Cornelius Ryan Book about D-Day LL HA 2
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.
1 What is your full name? Ulrich G.Gibbons
2 What was your unit and division? Hq 4th Infantry Division Artillery
3 Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time? Utah Beach, about 11:30 AM, 6 June.
4 What was your rank on June 6, 1944? Lt Colonel
5 What was your age on June 6, 1944? 27
6 Were you married at that time? Yes
7 What is your wife's name? Guila C.
8 Did you have any children at that time? Yes; Daughter, 3 years old
9 What do you do now? Amy officer, General Staff with troops, Hq United States Army, Pacific
10 When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? Early April 1944.
11 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? SEE ATTACHED SHEET.
12 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 cam in). No rumors in particular but the great uncertainty as to whether or not the invasion had been compromised, as discussed above.
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Your name Ulrich G.Gibbons
13 Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No. Diaries were prohibited.
14 Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? The btry which I had formed in 1940(B, 29th FA ) & commanded until 1942 was also loaded on an LCT Going in to the beach about 0800 6 June it hit an unswept mine & sank with a loss of about 40 officers & men. (The btry comdr, to whom I had turned over the btry in 1942, helped 4 men to safety himself with a broken back who ? [crossed out] & crippled for life [end crossed out] before attaching himself to a piece of floating wreckage.)
15 Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? No. The btry loaded out at Plymouth.
16 Were you wounded? No.
17 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? Not applicable
18 Do you remember seeing or bearing anything that seems funny now, even though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time? SEE ATTACHED SHEET
19 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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Your name Ulrich G. Gibbons
20 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 ? SEE ATTACHED SHEET
21 Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944? In some unknown lee harbor on the SW coast of England--Southampton perhaps. About 2 AM some terrier of the Navy came along, hailed, verified our number, said "You belong down......," so we upped anchor & headed down coast.
22 Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944? SEE ATTACHED SHEET
23 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 ?
Capt (Retd ) Vernon Burns c/o US Marshal Mobile, Ala.
have written
Col Peyton Tabb, Corps of Engrs c/o The Adjutant General Department of the Army Washington 25, DC
Brigadier General J L Coutts c/o The Adjutant General Department of the Army Washington 25, DC
Colonel Tom Shanley DC/S Operations, Department of the Army Washington 25, DC
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
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- for Cornelius Ryan 4 - Your name Ulrich G. Gibbons 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?
Assault convoys for Utah Beach (and presumably Omaha as well) were of two types: The assault infantry were on attack transports which sortied from port the night of 5 June, made a quick run across and were in the transport area some 10 miles off the beach early after midnight. In the normal manner, infantry went over the side into small assault landing craft carried along -- LCVP's and LCM’s -- formed into assault waves and went in. The other type convoys were the "tractor flotilla” (whence the name, I'm not sure ). These were convoys of larger landing craft which could make the run across the channel on their own -- LCT's, LCI’s, and in follow-up waves, LST's. These convoys carried the artillery of the Division, engineer beach and bridging equipment, tanks, and in the case of the LCI's, follow-up infantry.
Because of the relatively slow speed of some of these craft, these convoys sortied about sunset 3 June (I was in an LCT out of Dartmouth), rendezvoused with destroyer escort off SW England, and sailed non-committally NE up the channel all day the 4th.
As we went to sea, security was lifted and the troops aboard were told in detail and with maps where we were going, how, and when. You can imagine, then, the consternation of commanders and staffs when on the afternoon of the 4th the convoy wheeled and started back to England. The postponement because of weather was soon known, but not, then, its duration, and minds were heavy with such questions as: has this 24 hours sail up the channel been discovered ? if discovered, has the German been alerted? how long a delay? how do we keep these thousands of briefed troops from leaking information back at port?
To complicate things, that night's storm broke up the convoy and fragments headed for the nearest ports. It will always be a wonder to me how the US and Royal Navy harrying all that night up and down the south England coast like sheep dogs, pulled the flotilla back into convoy in time to sortie again at daylight. Then another all day sail, another day to be spotted, whether by radar, E boat, or aircraft, and that night the sudden turn East to the beaches of France.
To answer how I passed the time, you might say, sleeping or wondering (worrying, too).
Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time?
a. My LCT beached about 75 yards out, in about 4 feet of water, and down went the landing ramp. The first vehicle off was a jeep belonging to a naval gunfire liaison officer who had joined the headquarters only days before we sailed. He had participated in amphibious operations in the Meditterranean and was a bit patronizing among troops who had not even been in combat before. All assault vehicles were supposed to be waterproofed for fording ashore -- electrical circuitry waterproofed, exhausts and carburetor intakes piped up into the air. This the naval Lieutenant and his driver had done, but whether through the carelessness of superior nonchalance, or just by the luck of things, his jeep roared off the ramp with all the fording characteristics of a diving submarine. The rest of the boatload churned by him as he floundered armpit-deep in the ocean shouting for help which was not forthcoming, for a stopped vehicle would be a drowned one. He rejoined safely inshore that afternoon, a chastened young man.
b. On the beach a German artillery battery was playing a murderous, accurately placed barrage up and down the seawall. In the haste to get in-shore and away from it, the Operations Section truck turned over its heavily loaded trailer into a ditch. The first reaction of the men was to uncouple the trailer and push on, but a forceful young warrant officer who knew that invaluable maps and plans were on it, made them