Veteran clips

Jacques Reboul's photos for Livingbattlefield

Who better to tell a story than those who were there? We are proud to introduce some of the heroic veterans from The American Road to Victory series.




 Veteran Earl Norwood, of North Carolina, recalls sobering memories in the film, The Americans on D-Day, airing on PBS stations across America this summer. He was seventeen years old as he piloted a landing craft off Omaha Beach, on D-Day. Earl came in on the second wave of the landings.

“When the transport door dropped I watched two men get cut in half by machine guns firing from the beach. During the invasion I made so many trips in and out. Then once I was done putting them off on the beach I patrolled the waters to pick up dead bodies. As a 17-year-old kid, it’s etched in my memory.”

 South Carolina native, Carl Beck, now lives in Atlanta. No shrinking violet, Carl tells it like it was. Carl annually visits a French family who helped him after he parachuted into an area heavily occupied by the Germans. Following D-Day and the fight in Normandy, Carl went on to battle up Hell's Highway, participating in the largest airborne drop ever attempted in broad daylight. While in Holland, Carl came up against a  Tiger tank, which he describes in this clip from The Americans on Hell's Highway.

More discussion on Sherman tanks can be found in Tank Warfare post.

Hero of the last allied bayonet charge of WWII and survivor of the massacre at Rochelinval (The Bulge), Col Doug Dillard, 551st P.I.B (rtd), appears in The Americans in The Bulge, airing across America this summer.

“When we finally took Rochelinval, we sent a runner down to bring up the guys, who were trapped in the valley.” There is no point, Sir” he said “They are all dead . . . . That earned us the name 'the Lost Battalion'."

Col Dillard went on to fight in Korea and Vietnam and then to work for the CIA. He has written a book about special ops in Korea, and continues to travel frequently around the world.

Patton in the dog house

In the weeks before arriving in Normandy, General Patton had prepared what he called his 'Opus No 1,' a bold plan for a U.S army breakout and the complete liberation of France. He had passed this plan on to his Boss, General Omar Bradley.  Bradley had shown little interest  and as far as Patton was concerned, it had been filed away.

Patton had an intricate knowledge of the Norman countryside, having spent part of his second honeymoon touring the area in 1917.  He is reputed to have said, "We're going to have to fight a war here one day, so I might as well get to know the terrain."

Camp Patton, 2011

While continuing to 'cool his heels' in the apple orchard at Nehou, Patton was invited to the odd conference with Bradley and other Generals.


As U.S forces became progressively more bogged down in the hedgerow fighting, Bradley came up with a plan, 'Operation Cobra'. Patton could see that this plan was a virtual copy of his very own 'Opus No 1', but nowhere near as bold or ambitious: Nonetheless, it was for all intents and purposes, a plagiarized version of the Patton plan.  Ever generous of spirit, Patton preferred to believe that 'Cobra', had evolved from suggestions he had made.

Bradley, Patton and Montgomery

Although the plan was considered 'Top Secret', Patton decided to brief 

his senior aides in the strictest of confidence. 

Cobra plan

His public relations officer, Colonel Charles C. Blakeney, could see that Bradley's Cobra plan was plagiary, and shared his convictions with embedded journalists in an adjoining orchard - before Bradley had revealed anything about 'Cobra' to his own press corps. The men from the Patton camp let it be known that they had information on an impending action and the whole matter exploded. Once again Patton was in the 'dog house': However it did not prevent him from begging Bradley to make his Third Army operational immediately.


No go. It would be a while longer before the Patton 'Blitzkrieg' would get the thumbs up. He would have to content himself with the tranquility of the orchard at Nehou, as the front moved ever farther away. July 20th was a dark day for Patton. The bomb plot against Hitler caused him to worry that he would never get into the fight before it was all over.

Waiting proved a bitter pill for the man who said,

"Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base..."

A Sad Tale.

In 2008, as part of our Honoring Veterans Project, we made a short film about Howard Manoian, who was a semi-permanent resident of Normandy. For 35 years Howard, an intrepid member of the 505 p.i.r 82nd Abn, regaled visitors and locals with his stories of D-Day. He described in minute detail how he had landed by accident in the cemetery of Ste Mere Eglise and stealthily avoided certain death. Local dignitaries described him as 'Our Veteran,' never tired of buying him drinks and listening to his tales. In 2009, perhaps on account of the imminent release of this short tribute to him, Howard's life began to unravel.

On June 6th, during the 65th anniversary celebrations, just as Howard was receiving France's highest award, The Chevalier de La Legion d'Honneur, the Boston Herald printed an article entitled Phoney Paratrooper Feted by The French. He had never been a paratrooper at all! He was a veteran, but of a chemical decontamination company that came over Utah Beach on the afternoon of D-Day. The evidence, produced by investigative journalist Tom Farmer and supported by a forensic historian, Brian Sidall, was incontrovertible.

As daily we are losing WWII veterans at an alarming rate, it is sad that this old soldier, who passed away in 2011, will be remembered as a fraud rather than what he was, a real Hero of D-Day.

Wereth 11

On this our 100th post, we wanted to pay tribute to a group of brave soldiers who have become known as the Wereth 11.

 

Having finally won the right to fight during 'The Battle of The Bulge,' a group of African American artillerymen were captured, tortured and murdered by the SS at Wereth in Belgium. Here is a clip from our film, The Americans in the Bulge, that describes their fate.

Let's Make History Work For You.

   

We love history - that's why we make films about great military events, but we want everyone to share our passion for these amazing stories. We understand that many people consider history boring - just a bunch of stuff that doesn't seem to have any relation to where we are today. 

This just isn't true. 

The old way these stories were told, how documentaries relied on talking-heads, people pointing at things and washed out black and white footage, didn't help the cause. Our mission is to make history exciting and entertaining.

We are about to start a new project that will take us back to The Great War; a war that shaped the world, changed the face of America and signaled the dawn of an era of military technology. We will see for the very first time how aircraft, massed artillery, field communications, and dreaded gas were used on the field of battle. In the early 20th century our soldiers were still drilled and trained in the military tactics of the 19th century, but they faced and used modern weapons so ferocious that the casualty rate was mind numbing. Most people know very little about this long forgotten war, of the soldiers sailors and airmen of the American Expeditionary Force, who crossed the U-boat infested Atlantic Ocean, and joined their exhausted allies in muddy, bloody trenches . .  but as we approach the 100th anniversary, it is time to tell the story.

All of America was affected by The Great War. African Americans, like the famous Harlem Hell Fighters, the 369th Infantry Regiment, went to war hoping that if they fought for their country, then their country would consider them part of it. It didn't happen. They fought valiantly, but with the French, and returned home to a still-segregated land, which soon forgot their sacrifices.

Livingbattlefield has enlisted the expert skills of retired Marine Captain, Dale Dye, a skilled presenter and actor trainer. Famous for the Academy award-winning movie, Saving Private Ryan, and the epic HBO series, Band of Brothers, Dale will skillfully guide viewers through the actions on the exact locations in Northern France and help us to recreate battle scenes on a specially constructed lot near Fort Benning, Georgia.

Captain Dye on the set of HBO's The Pacific

Our productions are shown on Public Television, nationwide. Public television wants to increase the number of younger viewers watching it's programs and we want to help by creating a completely new style of documentary with exciting live-action narration, special effects and re-enactments, that will  appeal to a wide audience. Our current series, The American Road to Victory, has gone some way to achieving that. 

War can be, and often is, miserable, but it's not necessary to heap misery on top of misery. The stories have to be told with the right amount of respect, without losing their ability to transport and entertain. Soldiers didn't just kill and get killed, they laughed, joked, wrote touching letters home, and saw the humor in their living conditions.

It's young people who will carry the banner of history forward and we want to recruit them. We want to listen to their opinions before we start planning the series. It is for this reason that Livingbattlefield and The National Infantry Foundation are launching a special competition.

"Doughboys" 

The Competition

 

The Partnership are inviting young viewers under the age of 18  to submit a paper of not more than 300 words on why they find history documentaries boring and what we can do  in our new WWI "Doughboys" series to excite and interest them. We want to hear how they feel about archive footage versus re-enactments? Particular credit will be given to submissions, which offer a reasoned argument for how history can be turned into a subject kids can get excited about.

Deadline & Judging 

All submissions must be received by August31st 2013. A panel consisting of Captain Dye, Professor John C. McManus PhD, Livingbattlefield Executive Director, Heidi Lanni and Jordan Beck of The National Infantry Museum will choose 2 submissions. The winners will be notified by email on November 29th 2013.

The Award:

The two winners (along with a parent or guardian) will be invited to the "Doughboys" set in Columbus, Georgia. They will meet Captain Dye, see him in action as our re-enactors are turned into WWI soldiers. The award will include flights from anywhere on the mainland of the United States, airport transfers, two nights accommodation including meals, a complete guided tour of the magnificent Infantry Museum and a short, specially prepared video of their trip. The winners will make the trip during our 2014 filming season, at a date to be advised.

(Livingbattlefield full terms and conditions apply).

To Qualify:

In the first instance please email expressing an interest to: films@livingbattlefield.org A full copy of our terms and conditions will be provided, together with a short questionnaire.

Please note that all applicants will have to obtain the permission of their parents, in writing, to enter the competition.( Neither Facebook nor Google support or endorse this competition)

Local DAR chapter in Illinois, gather sponsors for Ignite

 Christy Short, Regent of the Samuel Elder Chapter of The Daughters of The American Revolution in Gallatin County, Illinois, gathers sponsors to place Operation Ignite into local schools.

".....This has been the easiest project I have put together so far. You are the ones that did all the hard work before hand. Thanks again."
Sincerely,
Christy Short
Regent Samuel Elder Chapter NSDAR

Donate now to place Operation Ignite into the school of your choice 
for just $50 per school.