Leland J. Kennedy Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

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A: Oh no, never saw any. I saw some Red Cross but - I can't say I didn't see them, because I might be unfair there. I saw some Red Cross workers in France. I don't think I ever saw any in England. We got to Coventry. We stayed at Salvation Army there and for maybe like a dime, a shilling - and one thing I recall about the Salvation Army, they had an open urinal. If you had to take a pee you know, they didn't have any cover. But the odor in the room wasn't too . . . Q: Well I'll be darned. (chuckles) A: But it was dormitory, maybe seated. Oxford or Cambridge, one of those universities must have been close to Coventry. And I think it was Cambridge. Because we went through that campus, if that's what they called it. But we were busy. We took hikes. I don't recall laying any pipe. Rut we didn't go on D-Day or the first ten days. We went in, I think, late in June. And I remember that. We were on that damned ship I know for twenty-four hours or so before you embarked, twentyfour hours before you left. Q: Where did you embark from, do you recall? A: Well I think Southampton. Q: Southampton. A: I think Southampton. We were right near Southampton - I mean Arundel - you look at a map of the British coast, I guess that's one of the closest points, Southampton, and . . . Q: Excuse me, I wanted to ask - now you visited Coventry you say'? A: Yes. Q: What did you think of the destruction you saw in Coventry? A: Quite bad. Quite bad. And I just read recently that - of course there's so much BS out - that Churchill ordered that bomb to shake up somebody. Q: Oh really? A: Or for some reason. But I read that since I've talked to you the last time. Rut that doesn't sound quite - but then you don't know if that's true. Rut we saw it. It was damaged extensively. And the more you saw of England the more you would see of destruction. Of course nothing like you saw when you got to France and those places. They were really beat up on the coast, and the Normandy area, and places like that. You read about those all the time. And these movies. Q: Where did you land when you . . . A: Well we ran - what was there, Omaha and what was the next one, Utah? Q: Utah. A: We would land at Utah. Q: Oh you did, across the beach? A: Yes.
Q: How long after D-Day was this? Do you have any idea? A: Oh maybe ten or twelve or fifteen days, I don't recall. Q: That soon? A: Yes that soon, yes. Q: This was before the breakout of St. Tlo then? A: Oh yes. Oh yes. We were at St. Lo . . Q: Oh you were? Did you see the bombing there? A: No I saw that destruction. Q: Oh you did? A: That cathedral that was supposed to have been destroyed, where they had that - 1 didn't see that - didn't they lay out some officer there in the rubble that was the major or gcneral or someone, some GI general, they had his body lay in state or something - or laid him out there. I saw the cathedral. We were at St. Lo, yes. Yes we moved pretty fast once we got started. We stayed in Mere Eglise not too long and they set up some kind of a headquarters some place along the line. But you didn't see much of your CO [Commanding Officer], or you only had your oficcr in charge. I ended as a supply sergeant, so I'd run the line, and there was always a fellow by name of Lieutenant Murdock or Murdeaugh or something like that would go with me. And we got in Paris after Paris fell. I'm sure they had ammunition depots. They had depots for the petroleum products alone I guess on account of the safety factor. And they wcrcn't too big. And you could see these - as I mentioned - they'd red ball up and blue ball back. And . . . Q: When you went ashore, were you in artillery range at that time? A: Oh I don't know that. I wouldn't think so, no I wouldn't think so. Q: Could you hear artillery in the distance? A: Oh yes. We heard it, oh sure we could hear it. So I guess we - 1 don't know whether - you could hear it. We heard it the first night we landed. I wanted to go home. (chuckles) Q: Oh is that right. I was going to ask how you felt about that? A: Well I'll be perfectly frank with you - it frightened me. It frightened me. Rccause you didn't know. Sure it frightened me. Q: Did you pitch your tents over there then? A: Well ol course the foxholes were dug, sometimes you dug your own hole to hole up and they pitched puptents. Finally I guess you moved into headquarters and didn't use puptents but guys were moving forward you know. Troops were moving forward. And you'd see occasional division headquarters I guess that had field hospitals and things like that. They moved pretty fast.
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University of Illinois at Springfie
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ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY ORAL HIST
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Preface This oral history of Leland
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Volume I Leland J. Kennedy SESSION
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next to us was a duplex house and a
Page 12 and 13:
Q: Were these family meals that she
Page 14 and 15:
I was awful fascinated by politics.
Page 16 and 17:
Q: Yes sir. (chuckles) What part of
Page 18 and 19:
that much about it, about the makeu
Page 20 and 21: out and there was the number of my
Page 22 and 23: A: Well. Yes, I always remember one
Page 24 and 25: Q: Was it a paddle wheeler or what
Page 26 and 27: een that far back, in that era, may
Page 28 and 29: that wanted to take roomers or boar
Page 30 and 31: A: As you go by, that's the Alton W
Page 32 and 33: Q: Oh? Were you a pretty good corn
Page 34 and 35: A: Maybe it makes good talking to m
Page 36 and 37: A: The Fourth of July and Christmas
Page 38 and 39: A: I mean his wife is I think, and
Page 40 and 41: golden handshake. They'd give you m
Page 42 and 43: A: . . . and the twenty-five. But y
Page 44 and 45: day I would say that half of the fo
Page 46 and 47: Young Democrat convention, elected
Page 48 and 49: in Edwardsville, and you had to pay
Page 50 and 51: - and we were for Smith, and fighti
Page 52 and 53: work. I never was drafted for nothi
Page 54 and 55: more German than I was I guess. (la
Page 56 and 57: Of course there were war clouds han
Page 58 and 59: A: Twice a month. Q: Twice a month?
Page 60 and 61: There was neighbor against neighbor
Page 62 and 63: A: And they did, so that's . . . Q:
Page 64 and 65: SESSION 4, TAPE 7, SIDE 2 Q: That w
Page 66 and 67: ' I 59 you couldn't get across that
Page 68 and 69: A: Well they didn't have none of th
Page 72 and 73: VOTE FOR LELAND J. KENNEDY DEMOCRAT
Page 75 and 76: Q: Now when you first went in did y
Page 77 and 78: A: A port of embarkation or for sup
Page 79 and 80: A: Oh yes. I'm sorry about that now
Page 81 and 82: A: Alright. August. I'll tell you -
Page 83 and 84: And he got out before I did, but he
Page 85 and 86: A: No no, never said a word. Oh the
Page 87 and 88: though. He was a good talker, and o
Page 89 and 90: play cards or just talk. Women like
Page 91 and 92: Q: Yes sir. A: We had a strike in s
Page 93 and 94: Of course you'd have a lot of lawye
Page 95 and 96: A: Well that was - that was the bes
Page 97 and 98: polls in a particular city and he's
Page 99 and 100: Q: Yes. A: Bond never did like bein
Page 101 and 102: wife and family when you're out, or
Page 103 and 104: of Illinois) library and muse aroun
Page 105 and 106: A: Well legislative process, commit
Page 107 and 108: A: Yes I think so, had a column. We
Page 109 and 110: A: Well I recall - I guess they're
Page 111 and 112: state central committeeman. Now sta
Page 113 and 114: not an Italian name, but what those
Page 115 and 116: Q: Oh? WOKZ in Alton, Illinois? A:
Page 117 and 118: This is going back, and I don't hav
Page 119 and 120: had twelve in the pool. I think it
Page 121 and 122:
Q: Oh is that right? A: Oh my first
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a federal gasoline tax thirty years
Page 125 and 126:
Q: No sir, no sir. Well let's see,
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they changed those desks after reap
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Q: He started that in the 1951 sess
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That wasn't a bone of contention a
Page 133 and 134:
Q: Oh I see. A: I think they'd do t
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Talking about lodging, 1'11 always
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his wife's sister. Of course they w
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A: Oh did she? Q: Yes. A: Well some
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And a lot of those people are all g
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I believe there's a lot of that fam
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Leland J. Kennedy Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

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