Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 020, folder 05: Sidney Frank Capon

Released Int CAPON, Sidney Frank D Day Book RAF--6th AB Div 9th Para Br Box 20, #5

Release to PG 9th Batt/3rd Brig Merville

4. Alan Jefferson blew hunting horn as they went in, between blasts yelled "Carry On, Carry On"

German pushed one another out of Merville battery, many shouting "Ruski, Ruski"

THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY

D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 -- MIDNIGHT JUNE 6

What is your full name? SIDNEY FRANK CAPON

What is your present address? 11 MEDCROFT GDNS, EAST SHEEN, LONDON, S.W.14.

Telephone number:-

[inserted] (Merville Bty man) [end inserted] What was your unit, division, corps? 9TH PARACHUTE BTN 6TH AIRBOURNE DIV.

Where did you land and at what time? APPROXIMATELY 0050 HRS "D DAY"

What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? PRIVATE 20 YRS OLD

Were you married at that time? NO What is your wife's name? Did you have any children at that time?

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? APPROXIMATELY 1 WEEK BEFORE THE INVASION

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? THE TRIP BY PLANE WAS COMFORTABLE. THE FLAK WAS THE WORSE & THIS CREATED A DISORGANISED DROP

Were there any rumours aboard ship? (Some people remember hearing that the Germans had poured gasoline on the water and planned to set it afire when the troops came in.)

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happed to you that day?

[inserted] S76 [end inserted]

.2 . Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? YES. I LOST MANY ONLY 150 OUT OF 600 MEN REACHED THE RENDEZVOUS

Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? I REMEMBER PTE DUNK WISHING ME AND LT ALAN JEFFERSON TO SIGN HIS WILL IN FAVOUR OF HIS FIANCEE. HE DIED I'M INFORMED A HEROS DEATH. I'LL REMEMBER THE 2ND I/C, A MAD MAJOR BUT A BORN LEADER HIS NAME WAS NEVER MENTIONED

Were you wounded ? YES

How were you wounded? MORTAR SHRAPNEL JULY 24 (7 WEEKS AFTER D-DAY).

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? EVERYTHING WAS NUMB FOR 5 HOURS THEN THE PAIN CRISIS OVER IN 2 DAYS

Do you remember seeing or hearing anything that seems funny now, even though it may not have seemed amusing at the time? Or anything unexpected or out- of-place? YES. ESPECIALLY THE FANTASTIC DREAMS ( THIS BEING AFTER D-DAY).

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? I'LL ALWAYS REMEMBER LT ALAN JEFFERSON (WHO LATER WAS CO-DIRECTOR OF THE PLAY "THE FROG" WITH PRINCESS MARGARET). LEADING US INTO THE BATTERY JUST BLOWING THE LITTLE HORN HE CARRIED. HE WAS WOUNDED AS WE WENT INTO ATTACK. HE STILL CARRIED ON BLOWING THAT HORN IN SPITE OF INJURIES.

3.

In times of great crisis, people generally show either great ingenuity or self-reliance; others do incredibly strange or stupid things. Do you remember any examples of either? NO

Do you know of anybody else who landed within the 24 hours (midnight 5 June to midnight 6 June) either as infantry, glider or airborne troops, whom we should write to? PTE GEORGE BOSHER. 26, Woodhurst Rd, Canvey Island. LT. ALAN JEFFERSON (ADDRESS FROM WAR OFFICE (LATER CAPT) PTE HULL " " " PTE THOMS '01 (ADDRESS MIGHT BE HAD FROM PTE BOSHER)

What do you do now? MASTER BUILDER

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."

Cornelius Ryan Joan O. Isaacs The Reader's Digest

Before D-Day Pvt Dunk asked Sidney Capon & Lt Alan Jefferson if they would witness his will in which he left all his worldly possessions to his fiancee. They signed it He was killed later. --- On D-Day Lt Alan Jefferson blew horn - a hunting horn - as they went into attack battery. He stood on mine and although wounded continued blowing horn. And in between blasts yelled "carry on." He was short, thick-set, strong extremely polite. Was wounded in legs by mines. ---- First person Capon saw on landing was Pvt Bert Hull (see 9). Lt Dowling an Irishman was later killed at battery (see 9 ) also by mine.

He remembered seeing two Germans coming out of slit trench within battery - one of them with a Rex X box in his hands. The Red X presumabley to indicate that he wanted to surrender other Germans were pushing one another out many of them shouting "Ruski Ruski" --

Master builder