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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 ? Joseph W. Baechle 1827 Maywood Road Cleveland 21, Ohio EVergreen 1-6691 What was your unit and division? 184th Port Co., 487th Port Battalion, 5th Engineer Spec. Brigade Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time ? Easy Red, Omaha Beach 10:00 A. M. What was your rank on June 6, 1944? Sergeant What was your age on June 6, 1944? 25 Were you married at that time ? Married after war. What is your wife' s name? Elisebeth Did you have any children at that time ? No What do you do now? Corporation accountant When did you know that you were going to he part of the invasion? About three days before when we left Tonypandy, Wales where we had been scattered, and went to Southampton What was the trip like during the crossing of the Channel? Do you remember, for example, any conversations you had or how you passed Not much conversation. Convoy speed 5 toots. Water fairly calm. Left sometime during the night. Fell asleep on deck under a tarp rigged up like a tent. The funny thing about it was that once we sighted France we got impatient and wanted to hurry up and get there even though we knew this was where the shooting war started. It was an excitement that built up that wanted one to change from a spectator to a participant. Then there was a big debate about whether we should let our beards grow or shave. You know, looked rugged. The World War I Cootie Theory was advanced and most of us shaved. We got hot water from the galley in our helmets and shaved on the deck as we approached the beach.
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). We had been rather isolated from other units prior to going to stagging area and there were no rumors going around our company.
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- for Cornelius Ryan 2 - Your name Joseph W. Baechle 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? One member of our company was wounded in foot by shrapnel. Not on my boat . Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties ? Were you wounded ? No. Do you remember what it was like—that is, do you remember whether you felt any pain or were so surprised that you felt nothing? Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it may not have seemed funny at the time ? The battleship Texas moved in behind us to shell a German 88 pillbox that was shooting at us . The Texas fired and knocked out the gun, but the muzzle blast almost knocked out us. Our barrage balloon disintegrated and the boat bounced around like a cork. Everything loose came down. Also-- out cargo was 740 tons of ammunition and two bags of pigeon feed. The joke was if we got hit there would be popcorn all the way back to Southampton. Dc you recall any incident, sad or heroic or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else? Old ship hulks were towed in to be sunk to form breakwall and artificial harbor. They came around between us and the beach. We were all standing on deck watching. The first mate of our little ship was standing next to me. the charge was set off to blast a hole in the hulk to sink it a piece of the steel plate came sailing over crushed in the side of the first mate. The captain signaled for medical help and the mate was taken off . We never knew if he lived or died. This was our first immediate casualty. Everything was used on the invasion. My ship was a rusty little three hatch coaster named the Biddessoa. It was a French ship that had helped in the evacuation of Dunkirk and had been in England ever since. Now, on D-Day, the Biddessoa was coming home. That 's a vignette if I ever saw one. The company was all scattered around on various ships like ours and we didn't know how the others had faired until we finished unloading and got ashore. That ’s when we found out we had had only one casualty in our company.
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- for Cornelius Ryan 3 - Your name Joseph W. Baechle
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 from D-day? No
Where were you at midnight on June 5, 1944? On the Biddessoa between the Isle of Wight and Southampton. I don't remember at what time we actually got under way.
Where were you at midnight on June 6, 1944? Still on our boat unloading our cargo into Ducks.
Do you know of anybody else who landed within the 24 hours of D-day, June 6, as infantry, glider or airborne troops, or who took part in the air and sea operations, whom we should write to? Don’t know their present addresses.
Yes, available for interview anytime. Will be home. Vacation over.
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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 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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June 6, 1958
Miss Frances Ward Reader's Digest 230 Park Avenue New York, N. Y.
Dear Miss Ward: Even fourteen years have not dulled my memory of D-Day June 6, 1944 and I am writing to you in response to the notice which appeared in the June issue of The American Legion Magazine. I would be happy to contribute my bits and pieces which would help make up the tremendous mosaic of D-Day. I was a sergeant in the 487th Port Battalion attached to the Fifth Engineer Special Brigade, Combined Operations, Amphibious Command. That means we started the ship to shore operations which eventually saw the yearly tonnage of the port of New York hauled in over the beach in the period of June to September. Our sector was Omaha Beach, Easy Red, Normandy. The little village nearest the beach was St. Laurant sur Mer. To our left were the cliffs the American Rangers stormed and to the left of them started the British sector. Here was Port En Bessein (as best as I can remember the spelling). I can remember the daring destroyers racing in so close to the beach we thought they must surely be going aground then turning and speeding parallel to the Port hurling broadside after broadside into the shore installations and hitting an ammunition dump which erupted with a tremendous explosion.
It has been said that everything that could float was used for the invasion fleet and I believe it. All of the battalion’s companies were divided up into crews to unload the ships. My ship was a rusty little three hatch French coaster named the ’’Biddessoa" which had been commandeered in the evacuation of Dunkirk. All those years this little French ship had been away waiting for the day it could return to France. And now the ’’Biddessoa” was going home! This certainly is a vignette of which I am very fond and which I used as a college composition after the war. What was her cargo? Ammunition—seven hundred and forty tons of ammunition. And this seemingly ludicrous item: two bags of pigeon feed! See that red flag on our mast? That means danger. We’re a hot ship. Stay away. The other ships kept their distance. At night when every gun opened up at Nazi airplanes I thought about a piece of hot flak falling on our little ship and setting off the whole works. I idly speculated on the possibility of