Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 017, folder 38: Keith Bryan

Bryan, Keith in D-Day Book Release

Neb. 348th Eng. Comb Bn Sect II

Box 17, #38

Release with PG

5th Engr. Special Brig. 348th Engr. C Bn. Co. A. Omaha -- D+1 After being driven off at H+3 (0930)

H ? O-1 Didn't lane on 6 June, tho' scheduled to.

For Cornelius Ryan Book about D- Day He might be a horizontal character LL NEB 3

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.

Columbus NEB3

1. What is your full name? Keith Bryan

2. What was your unit and division? Company "A", 348th Engineer Combat Battalion. (The battalion was one of three battalions that made up the 5th Engineer Special Brigade). This was an amphibious engineer outfit.

3. Where did you arrive in Normandy, and at what time? Finally landed about 7:30 a.m. June 7. Craft on which I was a passenger came in on schedule at 9:30 a.m. H plus 3) June 6 but was driven out by gun fire. Was driven out again about 3 in the afternoon. These two attempts were on Easy Red Beach of Omaha Beach. Final landing was on Fox Green of Omaha Beach. (See answer to #23).

4. What was your rank on June 6, 1944? Sergeant.

5. What was your age on June 6, 1944? 23

6. Were you married at that time? No

7. What is your wife's name?

8. Did you have any children at that time?

9. What do you do now? County Veterans Service Officer (veterans' counselor).

10. When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? From about the time we arrived in Wales in November 1943. "Sweepstake" betting on the exact invasion date began possibly in March.

[*What?*] 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? There was the tenseness that can always be felt when the Army knuckles down to business, but, really, the trip was rather relaxing. The weather was fine, the sea calm, we always ate better when aboard Navy craft, and the ceaseless grind of training --through Sundays, holidays and all -- was over. I was aboard an LST which was crowded to the point of men stepping over one another on the deck. The trip was not long enough to get boring -- something like 36 hours on the water before H-Hour. As I remember I talked, watched the sea, and read one of the pocket-size novels that were being distributed to us then. We sailed from Weymouth harbor on Sunday evening, June 4. Sometime during the trip a storm struck. (Remember the landing was postponed 24 hours because of this storm). The LST rolled quite a bit, and men lucky enough to have bunks had difficulty in staying in them. Morale was very high, and, in spite of the storm, I can recall not a single case of seasickness. At 3 a.m. June 6 everyone was sent topside and all hatches and bulkheads were battened. The cooks had sandwiches and coffee ready. (cont. on back)

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 came in). Yes, I remember the burning-oil-on-the-water rumor. The precautions against use of poison gas were so elaborate some of the men were certain these would be encountered. But I don't remember any other wild guesses. We had been thoroughly briefed. We had even run a dress rehearsal of the invasion on Slapton Sands in southern England, so we knew pretty well what we were about.

11. ( cont ) It one of the blackest nights I can remember. When it began to get light the Army personnel and vehicles ( except the Dukws) were transferred at sea from the LST to a Rhino ferry (a powered raft ). The sea was very rough at this time. Three times the LST winched the Rhino in against its ramp, and on the first two tries the winch cables snapped like shoestrings. While this was going on three buddies and myself ate a gallon of fruit cocktail one of the four had lifted from the galley. But finally the transfer was completed, and after daybreak everyone aboard passed the time by watching the panorama of five miles of beachhead.

- for Cornelius Ryan 2 - Your name Keith Bryan

13. Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? Diaries were verboten. Those that had them were required to turn them in to battalion headquarters before leaving England. They were locked up with personnel records, and the whole batch was on a craft that was sunk in the Channel.

14. Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? No

15. Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties?

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?

18. Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it did not, of course, seem amusing at the time? [crossed out]In the afternoon German gun fire hit a truck of Dukew on the beach loaded with explosives. There was a beautifil explosion [illegible]

19. Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else? When our Rhino ferry came in the second time we [*(about 1500*] really intended to stay. When we got clear in and had stopped to commence unloading, two shore batteries opened up on us. The one to the left (east) was firing across the craft, and the shells were exploding in the water on the right. The battery on the right was firing shells over us and into wreckage on our left. When we started to back out — and a Rhino ferry takes top honors for sluggishness — both batteries laid down a barrage behind us. Geysers of salt water we drenching the stern of the ferry and shell fragments were falling against the deck and the vehicles on board like hail. We backed nearer and nearer — then the shooting stopped. Probably Navy guns had opened up against the shore batteries to make them button up for a while, but why had even the first rounds missed us, when the Germans had plotted [crossed out]surveyed[end crossed out] every inch of the beach and had aiming stakes set at intervals along the water line? It always seemed to me that Divine protection had got us out of that trap.

German gun fire hit a truck loaded with explosives parked on the beach. There was a terrific explosion, following which a giant smoke ring three or four city blocks in diameter hung over the area for a half hour or so.

[*which?*] A destroyer swung in close to shore along the cliffs east of Fox Beach, so close in it must have come near running aground, and with every gun aboard chattering and over

19 . ( cont ) barking away, carried on a fued with a German mortar emplacement located to the rear of the cliffs. Then it sailed east two or three miles, still hugging the cliffs, and picked a point-blank fight with a German shore battery.