Veterans of D-Day (1 Viewer)

[Mack100]

We camped in Ranville on the 5th and 6th June this year with the express purpose of seeing the commemorations.
The weather on the 5th was excellent but the 6th was a washout so we headed south in very scary blustery weather.
The veterans had been ferried over to Ranville by the taxi charity organisation
https://www.taxicharity.org/
I had excellent conversations with those I photographed except for the lady in the wheelchair who gave me a smile and a wave!

The commando was particularly interesting to chat to as he had been a member of 48 Commando and I'd just finished doing some research work on that unit.

48 Commando veteran.

 

[Mack100]

More pics, due to my fat fingers I uploaded too soon!

 

[DaveandJen]

I’m a new member on here (about two weeks) but not a new member photography wise having been interested in photography for over 40 years and a very active senior camera club / committee member for about 25 years with my main interest in photography being people pictures and this series works a real treat for me. The lighting on all of the faces is superb and I can see you had to deal with some hash lighting (must be ace using fill-in-flash or some other means}. No hesitation awarding 20/20 for this series and extremely well done.

Dave.

 

[sylvester1954]

I would love to have the courage to sit down with some of these amazing amazing ex soldiers but would feel that I was intruding on them to say the very least. I have spent many years researching the battles beyond the beaches to to the fall at Falaise especially the horror for the soldiers in the tank regiments that fought and died there. There are some brilliant books written by one veteran Ken Tout who survived this episode and is still alive today - would love to meet him too.

 

[Mack100]

I’m a new member on here (about two weeks) but not a new member photography wise having been interested in photography for over 40 years and a very active senior camera club / committee member for about 25 years with my main interest in photography being people pictures and this series works a real treat for me. The lighting on all of the faces is superb and I can see you had to deal with some hash lighting (must be ace using fill-in-flash or some other means}. No hesitation awarding 20/20 for this series and extremely well done.

Dave.

Thanks for the comments. I didn't use any flash and as you say the lighting was harsh. It was undoubtedly my use of Lightroom that gave me some usable images!
I felt it was important to engage with the people whose images I chose to show here, I've kept their photos on Flickr private as it didn't feel it correct to show them to the whole world without their permission but it was appropriate to show on this forum because of it's nature. I haven't shown them anywhere else.

Although I've always been interested in military history in a general sense it was my son who oddly got me particularly interested (obsessed, my wife would say!) with D-Day. One of his subsidiary modules at university was American history and after seeing Saving Private Ryan and The Longest Day he decided to track down people involved in the landings and make a film.

He was able to interview and film a chap I knew well who had been an 18 year old armoured bulldozer driver on Gold Beach and went to Virginia to meet and film survivors of the US 29th Infantry disastrous landing on Omaha Beach. He also tracked down, interviewed and filmed the Royal Navy officer who actually piloted a US landing craft to hit Omaha who was called Jimmy Green:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/68/a1929468.shtml

In the years following my sons filming I've spent many a happy hour walking the lanes and fields of Normandy tracing the routes taken by our forces.
Sorry about the long and rambling post!

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[jockaneezer]

Your link @Mack100 was a very interesting read, especially some of the comments !

 

[Mack100]

Your link @Mack100 was a very interesting read, especially some of the comments !

I hadn't read those

 

[rangi]

That Lady looks a bit like Nancy Wake GM, I thought it was at first then I remembered she had died in 2013 I think.

Any of you fellas interested in the Women that parachuted into France a good read is "Lonely Courage" by Rick Stroud

Noor Inayat Khan is another worth checking up on.

 

[DaveandJen]

Sorry about the long and rambling post!

Mack 100 - Rest assured you have not given us here a long and rambling post but a good insight into the subject which adds to the viewing experience. Its well known in photography that people interested in the subject take the best pictures and this is an excellent example.

Dave.

 

[Binky]

Does anybody know this remarkable character? Met him on Gold Beach on 4th June when he was there as part of a Normandy Veterans Association tour. He didn't want to chat about his time as a despatch rider in Normandy, but more about his pre-service days in Lewisham. He is a real joker - he said he was willing to take my missus on as he's been celibate since he was 75 and now, in his 90s, he was starting to feel the urge again!

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[Mack100]

^^
I can't say I recognise him but it's a good picture of a terrific old soldier. I hope I've got lead in my pencil if I get to his age!
When I read accounts of that campaign particularly the paras fight for the Merville Battery I'm overcome with admiration.

 

[Binky]

Pegasus Bridge gets me every time. How the hell did they land those gliders so close to the bridge, basically crashing an immense weight at speed into rough ground, then run out and take a bridge after a collision that would put modern folk in trauma and counselling for years is beyond me. Knighthoods, medals and awards are dished out like confetti these days. To these men and women it was an everyday job and they just got on with it with the minimum of fuss.

 

[Anthea M]

Thanks for the comments. I didn't use any flash and as you say the lighting was harsh. It was undoubtedly my use of Lightroom that gave me some usable images!
I felt it was important to engage with the people whose images I chose to show here, I've kept their photos on Flickr private as it didn't feel it correct to show them to the whole world without their permission but it was appropriate to show on this forum because of it's nature. I haven't shown them anywhere else.

Although I've always been interested in military history in a general sense it was my son who oddly got me particularly interested (obsessed, my wife would say!) with D-Day. One of his subsidiary modules at university was American history and after seeing Saving Private Ryan and The Longest Day he decided to track down people involved in the landings and make a film.

He was able to interview and film a chap I knew well who had been an 18 year old armoured bulldozer driver on Gold Beach and went to Virginia to meet and film survivors of the US 29th Infantry disastrous landing on Omaha Beach. He also tracked down, interviewed and filmed the Royal Navy officer who actually piloted a US landing craft to hit Omaha who was called Jimmy Green:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/68/a1929468.shtml

In the years following my sons filming I've spent many a happy hour walking the lanes and fields of Normandy tracing the routes taken by our forces.
Sorry about the long and rambling post!

We've been to the beaches and memorials and museums and find it interesting but harrowing at the same time.
I'm glad your son and young generations are still keeping the memories of those brave young men alive.

 

[f6c]

Respect