ww2story

world war two stories

WAR STORIES: THE D DAY COMMANDO Former Royal Marine Commando Tommy Fulton talks to Pete Bleakley. As a Commando, Tommy was one of the first soldiers ashore on the Normandy beaches on D Day in June 1944, and his unit took heavy casualties. This South Belfast pensioner recalls the great sacrifices made 64 years ago, in order to free Europe from the Nazis. Watch this video Buy DVD

WAR STORIES: THE DESPATCH RIDER & THE WREN Pete Bleakley interviews John and Margaret Gordon. During WW2 John served first in an anti aircraft artillery role, then as a Despatch Rider. He was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre avec Palm for his Bofors gun defense of Antwerp harbour. Margaret served as a Wren on HMS Caroline in Belfast docks, where she carried out important naval administration. Watch this video Buy DVD

WAR STORIES: THE OMAHA BEACH SUBMARINER The bloody D-Day assault on Omaha Beach, which cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers, was dramatised in the film Saving Private Ryan. Pete Bleakley hears eyewitness testimony from Antrim war veteran Ken Smith who piloted a landing craft at Omaha Beach on that fateful day.
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WAR STORIES: THE DEATH RAILWAY SURVIVOR During WW2, Jim McCall was a Royal Navy wireless telegraphist who served aboard HMS Prince of Wales during its legendary engagement with the German battleship Bismarck. Attacked by the Japanese, the Prince of Wales was sunk and Jim captured. Jim was put to work on the Burma ‘Death Railway’, where thousands were worked to death by the Japanese. Watch this video Buy DVD

WAR STORIES: MINESWEEPER Local veteran Gerry Isherwood served on various ocean-going minesweepers and was part of a force that cleared mines off Omaha Beach prior to the Allied invasion. He witnessed the tragic events at Slapton Sands, where US landing craft were attacked by German E Boats, resulting in the loss of over 700 lives. Watch this video Buy DVD

WAR STORIES: THE BOMB AIMER Returning from a bombing raid on the Skoda factory in Czechoslovakia, the Halifax bomber of Alfie Martin DFC was shot down by a Luftwaffe night fighter. Alfie bailed out over the border between France and Belgium, and was fortunate enough to contact the French Resistance, who helped him escape back to England. Watch this video Buy DVD

A collection of interviews made for Remembrance Day in 2008

In this collection, veterans of World War Two talk about their experiences from the Normandy beaches to Slapton Sands to working on the Burma 'Death Railway' to being helped by the French Resistance to get back home after being shot down by the Luftwaffe.

To contribute a story to this collection please email us.

NORTHERN IRELAND WAR MEMORIAL
"The authorities in Belfast were disgracefully complacent about the possibility of air raids in Belfast, they argued that Belfast was the furthest place from Germany.. the bombers will not get here... well they were so wrong." Major Potter gives a history of Northern Ireland during the war, from the N.I. War Memorial in Talbot Street.
Watch this video www.niwarmemorial.org

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