Page 5

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