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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.