D-Day As It Happens

[anteros_lmc]

Was anyone else following Channel 4's D-Day As It Happens project today? The aim of the project was to use twitter and other social media to relay the events of Operation Overlord in real time through the eyes of seven people who took part in the D-Day landings, 69 years ago today. The words of each of each individual are based as closely as possible on their own testimony, interviews with their families, and contemporary maps, reports and archive documents. You can find out more about the project and the seven individuals here: Meet the D-Day 7. I've followed several "real time" historical reconstructions on twitter over the last few years but this was definitely one of the most moving and effective ones I've seen. Here are some of the highlights:



George Honour is Captain of the X-23, a midget submarine...


Des O'Neill, No. 5 Army Film Unit...


Huston Sears Riley, from Mercer Island, Washington State, was part of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion 16th Infantry Regiment, and therefore in the first wave of assaults to hit Omaha beach...


Frenchman Maurice Chauvet grew up in the town of Le Gâvre, he enlisted in the Free French Navy when he made it to Britain on 6th June 1943...



Portsmouth-born Mary Verrier joined the junior section of the British Red Cross at the tender age of eight. When the war broke out, she was called up on the same day that she received her full Red Cross uniform as a present from her brother...


RAF Signals Carrier Pigeon NPS.42.31066. Real Pigeon, tweets not his actual words...

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

This man was a dear friend of both my parents. He wrote for the NY Times for years, was an expert on wildlife and fish. He was also funny and goofy. I once saw him make some sort point by ripping off his shirt and lighting his chest hair on fire. (It made sense at the time.)

He is still alive, though in recent years he has become what my mom always called 'Deaf as a haddock.'

He is just one of so many men who came home and went on with lives. We made a shameful number of men into heroes in the 20th century.






http://www.mvgazette.com/news/2010/05/28/one-eyed-determination-took-nelson-bryant-normandy

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Thank you for introducing me to Nelson Bryant. He sounds like a remarkable man.

We made a shameful number of men into heroes in the 20th century.
Aye, and a shameful number of women into widows.

[ashley-pitt.livejournal.com]

19 years ago today, D-day, I bought my house on Normandy Road. I always remember.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

What could be a more fitting memorial?

[aralias.livejournal.com]

this looks like a great project - really well handled and clever, and (as you say) very moving. and then suddenly there's a comedy pigeon, after the terrible stuff with the frenchman!

something for everyone, i guess.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

It was really tense watching all the messages coming in. It really was very, very well done. One of the best projects of this kind that I've seen.

They also encouraged people to tweet their own DDay stories, which is where Gustav the Pigeon came in. I suspect he was inspired by the remains fo the WWII carrier pigeon found in Surrey recently with the coded message still strapped to his leg.

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

They passed through Rownhams, I'm sure. The school record book talks about loads of vehicles moving through the village in June 1944. There was an American camp at Toothill - 2 guys went AWOL at one point and broke into the school kitchen.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I remember you mentioning the guys breaking into the school kitchen before! Strange the traces that people's lives leave behind. I wonder what ever happened to those two men?

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

So do I. It's the stories which fascinate me. I'm researching the guys on our churches' WWI memorials, for a series of articles in the parish magazines. Every answer just brings another question...

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Excellent stuff.

I like that the pigeon got his own feed.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I was absolutely enthralled by it. I got next to no work done that day.

Gustav the Pigeon was rather splendid. He provided rare moments of levity throughout the day.