|
Narrative
account on
A/C
#42-93002
(Cont'd)
a rescued
P-47 pilot, and we followed him to the USS "Ancon", another
headquarters ship. (This craft was the headquarters for all that
section of the beach, and many generals and admirals were present
upon it, including General De Gaulle, who was observing the action
and broadcasting messages to the French.) From this ship we
transferred - via another LCVP - to LST 75, arriving about 1400 on
Wednesday afternoon. This ship began to unload that night and
finished the following morning. At about
2100
hours
Thursday 8 June
1944,
we left for the UK in a convoy of 40
-
50
ships.
We arrived
off Portland about 1400 Friday afternoon, stayed on board until
disembarkation Saturday morning,
10
June
1944.
We then went through two
straggler-and-survivor camps, the second at Weymouth. At the
latter, we arrived simultaneously with
206
US glider pilots, who had just been
brought back from the continent. From here we went to Southampton in
trucks, where we arrived about 1800. The pilot immediately
telephoned our base- and spoke to Lt Col Myer, who sent down at
once; Major Falkner and Capt Roush picked us
up
at Stonycross Airfield near Southampton about
2130
on
Saturday,
10
June
1944,
and we arrived at our base about
2230
the same evening.
While we
were on the continent, we did not observe any engagements with the
enemy, although we heard much firing; we saw some empty gliders in
the vicinity of St Mere Eglise, but we did not observe the town
itself nor did we see any of our glider troops.
We
found that our troops had been instructed to shoot at anyone moving
around at night, whereas
we
had been advised to hide during the day and
do
our travelling at night if we landed in enemy territory.
Instructions on such matters should be coordinated, in order to
prevent avoidable injury from our own troops.
HARRISON
LOESCH,
Captain, Air Corps,
Intelligence Officer.
SECRET |
