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Ack 26/6/58 Negative
THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 - MIDNIGHT JUNE 6
What is your full name? John Samuel Brookes
What is your present address? 38. Brynawellon Nantyglo. Mon.
Telephone number:
What was your unit, division, corps? 2nd Batt. South Wales Borderers.
Where did you land and at what time? Arromanches
What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? Private. 24 yrs
Were you married at that time? Yes
What is your wife's name? Minnie
Did you nave any children at that time? No.
When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? Six weeks before June the 6th we knew that something big was coming off because of the training we were doing
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? It was a very rough crossing the weather wasn't very good for a landing.
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.) I didn't hear of any rumours
Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No. I didn't have time for writing.
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Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? Yes. we were ordered that if the man next to you falls to keep going even if it happens to be your best pal
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? Yes. where landing craft had sunk they had put flags to mark the spot it was quite a flag day
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? The men on the beach [?parties?] they were so [?clam?] getting the infantry off the beach
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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 ? Everbody was great. I didn't see anyone panic
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 know a few who landed with our Batt.
What do you do now? I am a factory worker
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
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1/ About six weeks before D Day we started invasion training sometimes we were on the Landing Craft three or four days then landing at different parts of the South Coast Then I was member of a working party getting new ammunition for the Batt Stores The Batt moved into a marshalling area in a wood somewhere near Southhampton There we did more training getting us to carrying on exta equiment The whole area was cordoned off from the outside world We were part of an "Independant Brigade" which consisted of the 2nd Batt Gloucestershire's and the 2nd Batt Essex and our task on the Landing was to get off the beach and get inland as fast and as far as we could We had to get Bayeux in three days Twice a day every man was shown a huge table map which showed the different objectives we would encounter in the way Officers and men got to know each other better and "pitch and toss" was a popular game as were waited for the order to embark French money was payed out to every men Bayonets were sharped brasses were painted over we enjoyed doing that the the order came to get aboard our Landing Craft On the evening of June the 5th we were waiting for the order to get moving So we put on a concert for the crew of our ship They were mostly Canasians and a great lot of chaps When the time came to move down the Channel all the other Navel ships cheered us on our way the crews stood on deck and saluted us We were ordered below as soon as our landing craft got out into the open Channel None of us spoke of the job we were going across the Channel to do We all knew that this was it and the eyes of the free world was on us Some hours later we were ordered on deck it was getting light we made some coco which I remembered tasting very nice Our officer pointed to what looked like a church steeple he said that's where were are going It turned out later to be Bayeux Cathedral Our landing craft either run aground on a bomb crater or a rock because we couldn't get right on to the beach We all had a kind of waterproof suit which came up to the neck covering all your equiment and as we started to go down the ramp I saw that the water must be over six feet the waves was very rough the tide being right in I took off my suit I knew that the water would go over my head Then one of the sailors jumped overboard with a light rope around his waist he swam to the beach pulled a heavy rope from the around his which he made fast to the beach with a stake we were all very thankful for this Then down the ramp we went into the water holding on to the rope I think without the rope a lot of our boys including myself would never had made it I remember a huge wave swept me off the rope Major Boon our Coy Commander coming back to help me I was half drowned but I made it I had a great fear of the German armies I had been told a lot about them and how clever they met them down but the beach parties had cleared gaps through which we quickly got off the beach and on to the road All this time a terrific barrage was being put down by warships and rocket -- firing shops We were moved up the road our tanks whic had landed with us were striping their water [?] we took cover along side them