The Story of BILL RYAN

...I believe I was the only one in my boat who was not seasick. This was due to my service in the Merchant Marine before I enlisted in the Army.

On the way towards the beach we lost two boats which were simply swamped by the high waves. The coxswains of the four remaining boats became disoriented; this was mainly due to the disappearance of the patrol boat which was supposed to ensure we were on the correct course for our assigned area. The beach was covered in haze and smoke from earlier heavy bombardment; this combination made the identification of any landmarks completely impossible.

As we neared shore the strong current forced our boats off course, taking us about two miles to the West. By the time we re-traced our proper course we saw that the two rifle companies which were supposed to land on our right flank at ‘Easy Red’ had actually landed on our beach which was identified as ‘Fox Green’. Their landing craft had the beach fouled, so we were unable to land.

After circling around off the beach like sitting ducks, we finally made our run in. By this time the Germans had the beach under heavy fire.

Even before we hit the beach, our four boats suffered many casualties in those last few yards of approach. The command party craft struck a mine and was set aflame by concentrated machine gun fire. Two other boats received direct artillery hits or struck mines, it was impossible to tell. The fourth boat was hung up on one of the beach obstacles and it too was under heavy machine gun fire.

The situation was just about as bad as it could get and we were taking lots of casualties. When my boat was hit I was knocked unconscious. It was explained to me later that two men from my boat dragged me ashore and placed me up against the face of a small embankment at the foot of the hill. I remained at this location until that night when the wounded were evacuated to England. All day long on 6th June I had a front row seat, observing all the organized and disorganized action being played out not only on the beach, but also on the water. If only I’d had a tape recorder or a movie camera. It certainly was the longest day!

After all these years one particular incident has remained with me...