Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 021, folder 01: Donald Barry Girling

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GIRLING, Donald Barry 50th Div. Box 231, #1

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Ack 30/5/58 NO/ THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 — MIDNIGHT JUNE 6

What is your full name ? Donald Barry Girling What is your present address? Flat 18 27, Bunhill Row, E.C.I.

Telephone number: Metropolitan 8539

What was your unit, division, corps? 90 Fd. Regt. R.A. (City of Ldn) T.A. 50 (F) Div.

Where did you land and at what time? Asnelles Sur Mer Approx 0800 hrs

What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? Major

Were you married at that time? { These questions cannot have any What is your wife 's name? { bearing on 'D' Day + I regard them Did you have any children at that time? { as impertinent.

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? Nov/Dec 1943

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? Uneventful . No. Sleeping and final study of maps + photos.

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 .) No. Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No--- this was forbidden.

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2 . Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? Yes Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? No Were you wounded? No How were you wounded?

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?

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? The rapidity with which the tide came up the beach. The submerging of waterlogged vehicles over which T.L.C.'s sailed to reach the beaches and the mass of floating equipment and bodies

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? Minefields- real and dummy.

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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?

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?

What do you do now?

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

Last edit 11 months ago by Luigiman85
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Negative Negative BANK OF ENGLAND PRINTING WORKS, LANGSTON ROAD, LOUGHTON, ESSEX. 20 May 958 NO 22MAY1958 Q.S. 22/5/58

Dear Sir, With reference to you advertisement in the Times Agony colum I landed in Normandy on the morning of June 6th 1944. I went in with the assault bn as F.O.O. to the Regt providing covering fire from 25 pdrs S.P. firing from tank landing craft. My memory of that

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