Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 022, folder 48: John Edward Scoot

Release Int. SCOOT, J.R. BRIT Juno, 48 Royal Marine, 3rd Can Div Box 22, #48

JUNO 0815 St. Aubin Sur Mer 48th Royal Marine Commando 3rd Canadian Div.

Main Sh of Sh Aubin - French-Canadian 6 Commandos hiding from shells - two Frenchmen fighting in street

O a landing craft in debarking now nobody liked badly wounded urges mates "Don't stand there you bloody fools, get ashore and give em hell."

Wounded man - shrapnel in stomach - "Any messages for back home, boys?"

Were told "Canadian would have a tent with a change of clothing"

Wounded man (same as above) Lt. E G Curtis "Thumbs up, lads. This is just a blighty touch." Died

Evening Capt. Killed - his batsman cries - Scott says "I have no feeling. I might [crossed out] as well [end of crossed out] have been looking at a fallen log"

5 p.M. In Langnune Kills German at close range - his feelings

THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY

D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 —MIDNIGHT JUNE 6 What is your full name? JOHN EDWARD SCOOT

What is your present address? 9 WOODBRIDGE CLOSE, HAROLD HILL, ROMFORD, ESSEX. Telephone number: INGREBOURNE 41470 What was your unit, division, corps? 48 TH, ROYAL MARINE COMMANDO, 4TH. S.S. BRIGADE ATTACHED 3RD. CANADIAN DIV.

Where did you land and at what time? BEACH 'NAN RED' ST. AUBIN-SER-MER 0815 HRS.

What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? MARINE. 20 YEARS. Were you married at that time? NO.

What is your wife's name? -

Did you nave any children at that time? -

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? MARCH 1944.

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? SEA VERY CHOPPY. SAILED BETWEEN TWO LINES OF SUPPORT CRAFT (AMMUNITION SHIPS, TROOPSHIPS, ETC.) TO TAKE UP POSITION AT HEAD. FANTASTIC, SEEMED LINED UP END TO END , MILES AND MILES WE PASSED. MY PARTICULAR SECTION SUNG JUST ABOUT EVERY SONG WE KNEW. VERY COCKY, VERY SCARED. REMAINDER OF TIME SPENT VOMITING. LANDING CRAFT INFANTRY NOT MEANT FOR ROUGH SEAS. Were there any rumours aboard ship? (Some people remember hearing the Germans had poured gasoline on the water and planned to set it afire when the troops came in.) NONE THAT I CAN REMEMBER

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.

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? MY PAL WAS GRIPING ABOUT THE FACT THAT IT WAS HIS BIRTHDAY. WE PULLED HIS LEG SOMETHING AWFUL. HE WAS KILLED AS WE HIT THE BEACH

Were you wounded? YES

How were you wounded? MORTAR BOMB SPLINTERS

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? BLOWN FORWARD ON MY FACE. NO STABBING PAIN BUT AN ACHE. IN MY BACK. PUT IT DOWN TO THE BLAST. IT WAS NOT UNTIL SOME HOURS AFTER SOMEONE SPOTTED BLOOD ON THE BACK OF MY TUNIC. STILL NO PAIN. A MEDIC STRIPPED ME OFF AND PROCEEDED TO REMOVE SPLINTERS WITH TWEEZERS, THEN IT STARTED HURTING. NOTHING SERIOUS, PRONOUNCED FIT TO CARRY ON. NOT QUITE A BLIGHTY TOUCH 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? FRENCH-CANADIANS 6 COMMANDO'S IN THE MAIN STREET OF ST. AUBIN CROUCHING IN DOORWAYS. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD TWO FRENCHMEN (CIVVIES) FIGHTING LIKE CAT AND DOG WITH A BIG FAT FRENCH WOMAN STANDING OVER THEM BELTING BOTH WITH A BIG SAUCEPAN. BULLETS AND SHELLS EVERYWHERE. THEY DID NOT STOP UNIT WE DRAGGED THEM AWAY. Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? PLENTY. HARD TO PICK OUT ANY PARTICULAR ONE. PERHAPS 'GINGER' CUSICK A LOUD MOUTHED BRUMMY, NOT ALL THAT POPULAR. LYING BADLY WOUNDED AT THE TOP OF THE LANDING RAMPS, ONE OR TWO STANDING LOOKING AT HIM WITH OPEN MOUTHS "DON'T STAND THERE YOU B - FOOLS, GET ASHORE AND GIVE 'EM HELL" OR WORD VERY MUCH LIKE THAT PERHAPS OUR 2 I-C WITH SHRAPNEL FROM OUR NAVAL GUNS IN HIS STOMACH LYING ON A STRETCHER SMILING "ANY MESSAGES FOR BACK HOME, BOYS". HE DIED OF HIS WOUNDS.

3 . In times Of great crisis, people generally show either great ingenuity or self-reliances others do incredibly strange or stupid things. Do you remember any examples of either? CPL. BROAD, SMALLEST N.C.O. IN THE UNIT, ABOUT 5ft 3"ins, STANDING UP TO HIS NECK IN THE WATER DTEADYING THE END OF THE STARBOARD RAMP WHICH WAS FLOATING ABOUT GIVING US A CHANCE TO GET OFF QUICK. A FANATICAL SUB-LIEUTENANT DETAILING FOUR MEN TO MAKE A BAYONET CHARGE ALONG A COMMUNICATION TRENCH TO A PILL BOX WHICH WAS ONLY OF NUISANCE VALUE AND COULD BE BY-PASSED AND LEFT FOR OUR TANKS TO DEAL WITH. ORDER WAS COUNTER-MANDED BY A SENIOR OFFICER.

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? HAVE LOST TOUCH.

What do you do now? DEPT. MANAGER (FACTORY WORK)

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

DAWN June 6th Circling around our H.Q. craft waiting to go in. Warships shelling the beaches, hundreds of planes going in. Hooter signal, we're off. In line abreast making for the shore as fast as we can go. Couple of hundred yards out a machine gun burst first above our heads, my very first experience of being fired on. Touched down, going to be a wet landing. I am detailed for the port gangway but chaps were millig about there, some sort of obstruction I guess. I cant wait and decide to take the starboard gangway. An explosion on the port side direct hit by a mortar all the chaps thrown into the sea. Sliding down the ramp on my backside, to unsteady to run down. Start[crossed out]ing[end of crossed out] swimming and wading ashore, beach is only a few yards long. For of chaps laying under the sea wall, fairly safe there, must reach it. Just like a dream, I want to run fast but I can't. I'm soaking wet my equipment is ten times as heavy than when I started. still not there yet, seems like I've been running for hours, at last I sink down. 'Stand by to move' but wait, who's that lying by the waters' edge, its Wally & Yorky, no time to investigate, we've got to get off that beach As we move off I can see somebody swimming ashore, must be about 100 yards out, he's coming in, only [?around?] 50 yards but now he's gone. disappeared. French-Canadian of the famous NORTH SHORE regiment sitting on a pile of ammo boxes, day-dreaming with his eyes wide open, not moving a muscle, or could he? A terrific bang behind me, knocked me flying, back aches, another couple of yards, who knows? We turn left here, off the beach, at last, between two white tapes through the mine field [?off?] to the coast road, a bit quiter here. Into the ditch, officers going forward, another briefing. A few yards up the road a hastily erected compound, french civies herded inside looking dazed and bewildered, bet they're wondering what hit them. We're off again, through the village, one or two hold-ups, our forward troops inkling out snipers and machine gun nests. Through the village into the wood, a few stretcher cases coming back now, must be [?jerries?] in the wood, no no [? jerries?], our own navy shelling the wood, bad organization there. They stop, we go on. An old French couple come from their cottage, not one tile on the roof, they have a couple of bottles of wine, that went down well. Through some fields with cows laying on their backs, legs extended, bellies bloated. Haven't seen Jordie since we touched down, where's Joe, has anybody seen Joe Langland? no! Could do with a smoke, lost 50 Players when I lost my big pack somewhere along the way and the rest I had in my pocket