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Ack 2/6/58
THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 -- MIDNIGHT JUNE 6
What is your full name? ALFRED ERIC POULSOM
What is your present address? 14, ETNA ST. BRADFORD Y W. YORKS.
Telephone number: BRADFORD 2904Y (FACTORY)
What was your unit, division, corps? 5H2 FLOTILLA LCA MOTHER SHIP [crossed out] EMIRE [end crossed out] "EMPIRE RAPIER"
Where did you land and at what time? CANNOT STATE DEFINITELY, BUT THIS SHOULD SHOW ON OFFICIAL RECORDS
What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? SGT. (TY.) AGE 29
Were you married at that time? YES. What is your wife's name? DORA MARGUERITE Did you have any children at that time? NO
When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? APPROX. 4 WEEK'S PRIOR TO SAME
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? UNEVENTFUL, NO DISTINCT RECOLLECTIONS NOW.
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.) AGAIN NOTHING TO RECALL
Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? NO
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Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? SOME, BUT CAN GIVE NO DETAILS.
Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? NO.
Were you wounded? NO, NOT EXACTLY, AN OLD KNEE INJURY WAS AGGRAVATED WHEN MY SMALL CRAFT WAS BLOWN UP ON A MINEFIELD. OUR MISSION WAS TO CRUISE ABOUT OFF-SHORE AND RESCUE ALL WE COULD FROM SUNKEN CRAFT. FAIRLY SUCCESSFUL FOR ABOUT 2 HOURS, FAIRLY CHOPPY SEA MAD THIS TRICKY, AND WE MADE A MISTAKE AND CONTACTED A MINE EVENTUALLY 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? THE LANDING-CRAFT SANK IMMEDIATELY, MY CREW AND OTHER SURVIVORS HUNT ON TO LIFE-LINES ON THE SEAWARD SIDE WHILE THE WATER-LOGGED BOAT SLOWLY DRIFTED INSHORE. INJURED WERE HELD BETWEEN US. I, PERSONALLY, FELT NO PAIN, OUR MAIN DIFFICULTY WAS BREATHING AS EACH WAVE WASHED COMPLETELY OVER US. ONCE NEAR ENOUGH TO WADE FIT MEMBERS HELPED REMAINDER ASHORE
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? NO
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? NO
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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? NONE.
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? [crossed out] NONE [end crossed out] OUR CAPT. OF MARINS. POSSIBLY A SURVIVOR OF THE WAR CAPT. IAN VICTOR MAJOR DSO. IN COMMAND OF OUR FLOTILLA LT. HARTLEY DSC. 2/IC BOTH HIGHLY EFFICIENT OFFICER WHO WILL PROBABLY HELP.
What do you do now? PRODUCTION MANAGER IN A LOCAL GOWN FACTORY
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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14 Etna Street Bradford 4 W. Yorks
[margin] 1 [crossed out] extract [/crossed out]
Miss Isaacs, Dear Madam,
Sorry if my recollections are not of much help, but I spent some time in the sick bay, on the danger list, from some sort of bronchial trouble due to the time spent in the water. I begged a lift from the beach, from one of our own craft, and remember nothing of the following week or so.
Yours sincerely, A. E. Poulsom
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