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Ack 20/5/58
THE ASSAULT LANDINGS IN NORMANDY
D DAY: MIDNIGHT JUNE 5 — MIDNIGHT JUNE 6
What is your full name? Wallace Henry Noel Teed.
What is your present address? Benshayne, Culmstock NR Cullompton Devon.
Telephone number: —
What was your unit, division, corps? Royal Navy.
Where did you land and at what time? We did not land, we were bombarding the coast of Arromanches Not sure of spelling
What was your rank and age on June 6, 1944? Age 32 Able Seaman
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? June 4th
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? There was thousands of ships in the channel and it was a sight I shall never forget. Time was passed watching the bigger ships firing over the top of us.
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.) Rumours I heard were of gasoline on the water and also of mines.
Did you by any chance keep a diary of what happened to you that day? Yes but unfortunately it was lost.
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Were any of your friends killed or wounded either during the landing or during the day? Not the first day.
Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties? —
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? When I went below to keep my watch on the switchboard a seaman from Whitehaven was making toys. I told him to go on the upper deck and watch the gunfire, he calmly remarked guns or no guns I am going to finish my toys.
Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic, or simply memorable, that struck you more than anything else? Troops jumping from the landing craft into the water; waist deep with rifles about their heads, shouting and running toward the beaches. Then lying down and firing at the Germans on the top of the cliffs. Both our troops and Germans were falling like ninepins.
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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? Heedless of warnings many including myself was stupid enough to come on deck clad only in shorts. It was very hot and we did not think of the danger of gas, splinters etc.
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? No.
What do you do now? I am a wood machinist in a bedding 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 O. Isaacs
The Reader's Digest
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If it is of any interest to you I was on H.M.S. Emerald at Trincamale, Eastern Ceylon when we were ordered to the U.K. On June 3rd 1944 we came around Lands End but it was so rough we were ordered back to St. Ives Bay. We left again June 4th and as we came into the channel we could see from a distance ships from U.S.A., France Norway, Poland etc and they all seemed to be proceeding in the same direction to the Coast of Normandy. It was then we knew where we were going. It was a memorable ocasion I shall never forget. I still have a picture of my ship.