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For Cornelius Ryan Book about D-Day
THOUSANDS OF MEN, ON LAND AND SEA AND IN THE AIR, PARTICIPATED IN TH 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 ? William L. Mills, Jr.
What was your unit and division? Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.
At "H" hour plus 240 minutes (10:30 hours) two miles south of Beach Uncle (Red) designated place to land.
What was your rank on June 6, 1944?? First Lieutenant.
What was your age on June 6, 1944? Twenty-nine
Were you married at that time? Yes.
What is your wife 's name? My wife's name was Erin Morris Mills (now deceased)
Did you have any children at that time? No.
What do you do now? Attorney at Law
When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? The officers of the 4th Infantry Division were informed at a secret meeting in Exeter, England, early in February, 1944, by General Omar Bradley that theirs was going to be a grand and glorious mission; that the 4th Infantry Division was going to have the honor of being oneof the American Divisions to first assualt Hitler’s great Atlantic (1) Over--
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 I recall, we were advised about mid-afternoon on 5 June, that June the 6th would be D-Day and that "H" hour would be at 0630. Soon thereafter the LCI, which I was aboard left Plymouth Harbor. If I am not mistaken, there was about 125 or 130 men aboard the LCI which was built to accommodate about 10 less than the number which was aboard. The landing craft had been loaded for about three days. It was impossible for the men to do much moving around and it was the longest, quietest period that I have ever seen 125 G. I.’s spend at any time before or since. Physical movement was restricted; no one had very much to say about anything; and everyone appeared to be deep in thought. Those who tried to think of something funny or cheerful to say were at a complete loss. Most (2) over--
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 ). I do not remember any rumors of any kind, I had discussed with fellow officers on numerous occasions before the time in question, the various things which we anticipated to find upon the beaches and coastline but I do not recall us having actually discussed this phase on the actual crossing of the Channel.
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Your name William L. Mills, J r.
Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? I did not keep a diary at this particular time.
Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? Captain Irvin Gray, Commander of "B" Company was the first one of my friends I remember having been wounded. He had been ashore about thirty or forty minutes (3) Over--
Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties ? I do not remember any conversation that I had with any of them before they became casualties.
Were you wounded? I was not wounded on D-Day. I was wounded east of Monteburg on June 13, 1944, and was later wounded more severely in the Seigfried Line on October 14, 1944.
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 what it was like when I was wounded. Shrapnel passed through my steel helmet making a hole about the size of a silver dollar and lodged in my forehead above my left eye. A flap of skin was peeled from my skull which flapped down over my left eye. I did not feel any pain. Another piece of shrapnel lodged between the fibula and tibia of my left leg At the time I was wounded I was about (4) Over--
Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time ? I do not remember any such happenings during the twenty-four period from midnight June 5, 1944, to midnight June 6, 1944. One thing, however, which may come under this heading is that there were many beautiful Normandy cattle, which had been killed lying upon their backs between the hedgerows with their legs pointed skyward. Their bodies had swollen tremendously from the heat of the Normandy sun. The natural instinct was for a soldier who was being shelled or bombarded to make a dive for any type of cover which may be available and I saw many soldiers hit the ground at or near one of these dead cows which would be struck during these bombardments and their bodies would seem to explod from the swelling within. The ultimate result being that the soldiers’ moral was lower than it would have been had he been hit with the shrapnel itself.
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else? As the troops of our division would encounter the airborne troops who had landed on the peninsula ahead of us, who were complete strangers to one another, they would throw their arms around each other’s necks and in many instances actually shed tears. I have heard the airborne troops say ’’Thank God, we never thought you would make it." And the men of our division who landed by sea were thankful for what the paratroopers had done in preparing the way by blocking the resistence from within. Right at sundown on June 6, 1944, the air above our positions was literally full of gliders loaded with reinforcements from the 101st Airborne Division and the planes which towed them to the Normandy Peninsula. These gliders were released immediately above the position which we then occupied. The sky about us was an inferno of hot lead; tracer bullets could be seen on all sides and we could tell from the directions from which the firing was taking place that we were completely surrounded by enemy gunfire. Hardly a glider reached the earth without serious injury and damage. Most of the gliders landed outside our perimeter of defense. Patrols were sent out to make contact with the glider troops to guide them into our perimeter of defense. A large number of the troops were found in a broken and Mangled condition. Confusion was great but the heroic men of the medical corps (5) Over--
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(3) when he was shot through the shoulder. First Lieut. Vernon C. Lindoerfer was the first one of my friends I remember having been killed. He was killed almost before my eyes about thirty-five or forty minutes after we reached shore.
(4) one hundred yards in front of the battalion surgeon. After he had bandaged my fore head and leg, I begged him to let me return to duty but he refused to permit me to do so and ordered that I be evacuated. Later four pieces of shrapnel were removed from my head and one piece for my left leg.
(5) did a wonderful job and we managed someway to come out of the confusion with a reasonable degree of order.
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Your name William L. Mills, Jr.
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? On the first night ashore when one of the patrols was returning to our lines with of the paratroopers, one of the soldiers in the perimeter of defense announced that the Germans were attacking and opened fire. Within a matter of seconds the entire battalion front was firing as though we were being assaulted by the whole German Army and before the firing could be brought under control it was estimated that a third of a basic load of ammunition was expended. This was certainly incredibly stupid in that we had all the ammunition we would receive for a period of three days , but it was a great lesson by expierence and emphazied the importance of the officers maintaining control over their troops and keeping the situation well in hand. On this same night, fumes from the shells exploding within our perimeter of defense excited some of the soldiers who were able to convince the officers that it was a gas attack. Shouts of "Gas" ran throughout the entire area . Men were donning their gas- masks; others who had lost their masks were becoming frantic and the situation was in the old army terminology SNAFU. Those of us who had means of detecting or determining whether or not gas was in the area immediately (6) Over--
Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944? On the English Channel somewhere between Plymouth , England and Utah Beach.
Where were you at midnight on June 6 , 1944? I was in a hedgerow about 3, 000 yards east of Ste Mere Eglise , about 3,500 yards northwest of St. Martin de Varreville.
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? The following men landed on D-Day who are not now in the Armed Forces. I am assuming that the personnel now in the Armed Forces have knowledge of your request for information . Earl C, Kurtz 691 East Beau Street Washington , Pennsylvania
J. E. Means Pendleton Road Greenville , South Carolina
G. B. Pollack 65 Clarendou Court Metuchen, New Jersey
Ernest Phillips, Jr. 633 College Street Cuthbert, Georgia
Talley Crocker, Jr. 108 Dunbarton Circle Aiken, South Carolina
Allen Heidingsfelder 5973 Memphis Street New Orleans, Louisiana
Robert V. Daspit Jr. 507 Willard Avenue Houma , Louisiana
John W. Cushnec 109 DeArment Parkway Pittsburgh 28, Pennsylvania
Robert W. Lentz 307 South Avenue Wilkinsburg Pittsburgh 21, Pa.
Michael Mihalik 40 Forest Road Murry Hill , New Jersey
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. 5
Cornelius Ryan
Frances Ward 9/30/58 Research , The Reader ’s Digest