Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 022, folder 16: John Murphy

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MURPHY, John Juno 0640 (?) Bernieres-sur-Mer Batt. Command RAF Balloon Command Transport Section Box 22, #16

[Quotes written on front of folder:] "Our worst enemy on the beach was the mass of sand-bees or flies that drove us mad as the tide came in." One-eyed Airman in caved-in trench: "Harry, took you a long time to get down here

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[ in red writing:] ack 27/5/58 Extract Canadian Beach THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 — MIDNIGHT JUNE 6 What is your full name? John Murphy What is your present address? 43 Swaffield Road, Wandsworth, London SW 18 Telephone number: What was your unit, division, corps? R.A.F. "Balloon Command" "Transport Section" Where did you land and at what time? Berniers-sur-Mer approx 6.45 AM What was your rank and age on June 6? Leading aircrafts man 24 (653083) Were you married at that time? unmarried 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? The previous 9 to 12 months were used for intensive training and exercises with the Army and Navy, and joined as "combined operations" for an eventual invasion. What was the trip like during the crossing of the Channel? Do you remember, for example, any conversations you had or how vou passed the time? Similar routine to many previous exercises, except we knew by the last "cooked meal" - a special treat of pork chops and trimmings, that this was no exercise. We, the R.A.F. personnel of three to each landing craft tank, boarded on the evening of the forth of June, but due to very bad weather, the invasion was posponed for 24 hours. The weather was still bad when we set sail from Gosport, for an unknown destination. The ships commander later disclosed this was the real thing and France was the target. Our Object was "Red Beach" Bernieres-sur-Mer. 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.) Previous to the "talk" from the C. O. there was many speculations about our landing area. Some had it in Norway others in Belgium etc. Our craft was loaded with French Canadians and we had lively music from an accordian or two on board. But I was beyond caring about rumours, or the constant shout of enemy flares for I was sea-sick. I was able to stand-to, for disembarking, and my 2 RAF friends and 1 persons equipment followed the Canadian tanks and vehicles into the water and on the beach. Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? I didn't keep a diary - but wish I had done so.

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2. Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? One or two of the Canadian personnell were killed as they hit the beach, one by stepping on a mine. There was already a lot of casualties on the beach, but our first casualty came a few hours later, a corporal Riley, killed by a mine. Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? As Corporal Riley was part of our Squadron we naturally knew him very well, but we had no recent conversation as he was in another "flight" from mine. 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? Due to light bomber raids at night, each one in the unit had to have a separate dug-out and his spade must be on top of the individual's dug-out. After a near miss one night or the night after landing I believe - one of the chaps was completely buried - and the rest hastily dug him up to find him using his precious air by smoking and not at all worried. Our worst enemy on the actual beach was the mass of Sand-lice or flies which drove us mad as the tide came in. Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? Nothing more than the usual gallantry shown every where. Maybe to see a RAMC Captain and two orderlies cross a mine-field to rescue a wounded man and see them all wounded by the explosion of an anti-personnell bomb or mine.

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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? I do remember a Padre attached to the Canadians "Regina Rifles" going to great trouble to have each body buried in a separate grave in place of the bulldozer mass grave that was attempted. He succeeded. I remember also that the green-capped commandos (Royal Marines) were the only unit as far as I could be aware to bury their own dead, as the Pioneers had the job else where. 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? I'm sorry, I made hosts of comrades - but can't tell a name, even my own units names are hard to recall. What do you do now? Im a post office worker in Wimpole St. London W 1 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 0. Isaacs The Reader's Digest

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Leading Aircraftsman John Murphy from Belfast, hit Juno beach at 0640 on D-Day. Later in the day pioneers collected all the dead bodies to put them in a mass grave but a padre with the Canadian "Regina Rifles” stopped it; he insisted on the bodies being buried separately. The first two men out of the boat (Canadians) were killed - one by standing on a mine, the other by a rifle bullet. He wondered during an air raid that night whether his balloons would bring anything down. One-eyed Airman, Arthur Tipton ( see questionnaire re bombing) was dug out of a slit trench which had caved in by bomb blast. When they finally dug down they found him calmly smoking cigarettes. "Harry, he said to Corporal Harry Barnes, ’’took you a long time to get down here”.

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