Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 023, folder 07: Frederick Stott

STOTT, Frederick

British 3rd Div.

Box 23, #7

R. 12/6

THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY

D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 — MIDNIGHT JUNE 6

What is your full name? Frederick Stott (Reverend)

What is your present address? Emmanuel Parsonage Salem St. Barnstable Devon

Telephone number: NIL

What was your unit, division, corps? 2^nd Battalion East. Yorkshire Regt — 3^rd Infantry Division

Where did you land and at what time? H Hour [intelligible] [intelligible]

What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? Private — aged 21 years

Were you married at that time? No

What is your wife’s name? —

Did you have any children at that time? No

When did you know that you were going to be part of the invasion? 24 hours beforehand

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? Trip calm & good

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.) No rumours

Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? No.

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? 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? No.

Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? No

3.

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? people or [?with?] troops were of high spirits even the wounded

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? Mr. Frank Wills 172 Oldham Road Grasscroft Nr Oldham Lancs.

What do you do now? Clergyman — ie Thinking of Religion

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

Negative

No letter [intelligible]

12th June, 1958

Dear Reverend Stott,

Thank you very much for sending me the completed questionnaire about your D-Day experiences.

This will be most helpful to me.

Yours sincerely,

(Joan Ogle Isaacs) Research Editor