Final lecture he gave before he passed away. The one place that intrigued me was my first trip to london and the health of parliament and big ben. Now these pictures, you must remember, are more than a quarter of a century old. The thing that entertained our boys stationed in england was westminster abbey. Quite a few americans stationed there came to see westminster abbey. These are the photographs i took on a sunday afternoon. Another thing that intrigued me was marble arch. Marble arch, on one sunday afternoon, it was filled with people. You must remember that london was being bombed almost every night during this particular time. I was photographing these speakers that were addressing the crowds. Every speaker was speaking on a different subject, but the police stood around and watched and as long as there were no strong arguments, nobody was hurt. The people in the argument in the audience were arguing back with the speakers, but these were typical shots of how we pass the time waiting for dday. Most of the children who lived in england, or a great many i should say, were sent out of the city, a lot of them remained behind. In spite of the war, they managed to find entertainment. I was rather surprised to see these children drinking out of Community Drinking cups chained to the fountain. I would like to make candid shots of the children so that they would not notice me, but everyone for while they did. This youngster is taking a cool drink on a beautiful sunday afternoon. We discovered that st. Pauls cathedral had been hit several times but not badly damaged. One of the other attractions was buckingham palace, and the gates, which were protected by british troops, not in the bearskin hats from peacetime, ut full war uniform. This is the way they paraded up and down. They were not performing for the camera but actually doing their duty. Notice the barrage balloons in the background. London had barrage balloons all over the area. It was said that if it wasnt for the barrage balloons come with all of the equipment being brought into the country, that the islands would sink into the sea. They said the barrage balloons were holding it up. You must remember, too, that food was scarce in london at this time and was being brought in whatever way they could. Being unloaded. It isnt often you get a bright day like this in the spring in london and this was an opportunity to show what the soldiers were doing while they were waiting for the invasion. This is fleet street. I discovered this irish policeman guarding the street and we saw considerable damage in area. Soon, we were on the south coast of england, where we met some other correspondence who were scheduled across the channel with us. You will probably recognize some of the oldtimers who covered the war at that time. I was given a shovel to defend myself and it proved to be a valuable instrument. Here we see larry lister of cbs. He was covering the war for cbs and so was Wharton Becker on the left,jack thompson of the chicago tribune. This is a closeup of jack thompson. This is Larry Oreilly of the associated press. This is becker. We were saying our farewells, because we were expecting to meet again in paris. Here on the left we see Bill Stoneman from chicago and the daily news and several other correspondents, they were boarding a military truck to the south coast. We went through small british towns, and life was going on as usual. People were in the marketplace buying food as though nothing was going on. After a 150 mile ride, thats how we felt riding in a military vehicle. Plymouth was badly damaged but this was found all over the area. Soon we were approaching the dock area and we found american jeeps ready to be boarded to Landing Craft. Notice the bars attached to their bumpers. They are designed to cut wires that the germans would put across the road that would sometimes cut off the head of the drivers. We were not allowed to Wander Around the area by ourselves each crossroad point was under guard by an american and a british soldier. If they wanted to see what you had in your bed roll, you had to show it to them. This was so that the secret of the invasion be cap as long as it could. These are two men, wes carroll haynes, w. I. And wes rather, and pete carroll, who went abroad with me. Pete carroll came from boston and was a photographer for the associated press. We tried to keep our mind off of what was coming, and we knew it would be a short time before we would be on board. We had our first taste of k rations, which did not taste that bad if you are hungry. We were also able to see the beautiful countryside in that area. These are the sort of shots i wanted to bring home to show my amily and friends. Pete carroll was using some of his film to make a few shots himself. Soon, we were down at the docks, and there we found units of the 101st Airborne Division caring everything they could by hand, boarding Landing Craft so heavily laden that they had to be pushed off the docks by trucks, as you see. These men were being taken out to larger craft and boarded for the invasion. Here we see several ugtse carrying fwranadse, bazookas. Bazookas. Nades, they did not have an opportunity to load this aboard jeeps. We were aboard a fleet of lcis, and here shown with the commander of the Invasion Group in the center, and the captain on the right, our captain of our ship, lieutenant patton, was in command of l. C. I. Number five. We found out he participated in several invasions in the mediterranean area and we felt confident he knew what he was doing. We stayed aboard the ship almost five days. This is the commander of the quadron. I remember lieutenant pattons name well because we were with him so long. Wes haynes was trying to get ready for the trip into paris, i think he was premature. These are the units of the 101st Airborne Division amusing themselves. I dont have to tell you who this man is imitating. He was a notre dame Football Player at one time and i was told later on he was killed in action. Of course, every ship had a mascot, and ours was no different. But the boys provided for their mascots welfare with the making of a life preserver just like the ones they wore hemselves. And then, one afternoon, lieutenant patton briefed the crew and told them we would be sailing that afternoon. They let out a cheer because this is the job they were waiting for, they wanted to get it done and go home. Here we see lci number four with a Commander Moving into the channel. This was a tremendous sight to see, ships from one end of the horizon to the other, ships of all kinds. They tell me there were well over 1000 ships. Even so, we thought this was just another exercise, as we continued on, we felt we would turn around and try another day. As we continued into the night, we knew it was the real thing. At one time we had a bit of a scare, they said there was a submarine in the area, and one of the de boats through some bombs into the channel. They exploded but we never saw any attack at all. Here are some scenes taken close to the beach, where the ships made a right angle turn and headed for the area where we ere to land. That is a d. E. Boat in the distance. Of course we were on the alert for any kind of attack, even airplane attacks. Fortunately, our air force did their job well, and at no time did i know of a german attack except after we had landed. Two planes attempted to strafe the beach and i happen to be in the area. These are some scenes i took with my camera that was reduced to 16mm. This particular scene was taken by automatic camera aboard a british Landing Craft, and they were the first men to land. The reason it was taken by an automatic camera because they wanted to have a record of what happened should the landing fail. At least they might have a record if they could recover the film, of what happened, and how to avoid it if they had to try another tack. Another attack. Here are some scenes landing on utah beach, and this is the way we went ashore. This is the british beach. Notice the men did not dash ashore after being aboard a Landing Craft for five solid days. They just walked slowly and cautiously, fearful of bombs and mines in the area. Notice they had their rifles wrapped in cellophane. This is the way we had to go on shore, and i needant tell you a lot of the boys didnt make it. T tell you a lot of the boys did not make it. Here is one of the famous scenes taken from black and white film of two men being shot down before your eyes. Here is pete carroll and wes haynes carrying our own equipment. The ship is grounded on the beach. The section of the beach we were on was being attacked by enemy fire, and in the previous shot you could see a bomb actually land not too far from where we were. There it is again. The bulldozers were trying to clear roads to let our tanks move forward. Even though it was june, the area was quite cold, as it usually is in that part of normandy. Of course, the men dug their foxholes a little deeper and we had the good fortune of finding a concrete wall that helped serve as protection, but even now, we are taking some of our wounded back to the beach so they can be transferred back to england. When the tide went out, the ships could not come in close, or those that went aground had to wait for high tide to be refloated if they werent hit. We stayed on the beach the first night and lived in a foxhole. Soon, we showed some of the first prisoners taken in the area, late the first day, who were captured close to the beach. They were sent back to england because there was no room to keep them there. This is our first command post, where general collins on the left is talking to some of his fficers. We were able to get some of the first hot food at this place, and i did not realize how hungry i was until i saw these pictures. There is larry lasseur and bob landry on the right. Bob landry was covering the war for time and life. Even though it kept me busy for eight solid days, i used up all the film i had and decided to go back to france to get some more and get a bath, i have not had my clothes off that entire time. My landing in england took place near bournemouth, it almost looks like the cliffs of dover that everyone is familiar ith. It was a beautiful sight to see the coast of england and know i could get some rest. I did not realize it at that time the buzz bombs would start coming over. Here we see some of them flying over the english coastline. These buzz bombs were a terror weapon. They did not know where they would land but the british were quick to set up machine guns and antiaircraft fire to knock them out of the sky, and they managed to shoot down quite a few. They even sent planes into the sky to knock them out of the air. Of course, sometimes they did get through, and where they fell, they caused considerable amage. But you must have missed that pretty good shooting. There is one coming down, it landed in the london area. Wherever they landed, they caused considerable damage. My Second Crossing of the channel was made on an lst, this time with units of the Third Armored Division that was sorely needed because they were bringing over more tanks and vehicles to carry us in the direction of cherbourg, because we needed a port badly. The l. S. T. Was manned by a british crew. That is a captain in the british uniform. We were in a long convoy, everyone loaded to the gills with equipment that was sorely needed. Here you have an idea of what the beach looked like. These ships are waiting for the tide to recede so they can send equipment ashore without going through deep water. On dday, they had to go through the deep water. At this particular moment, they are waiting for the ramps to be rebuilt after a severe storm so they could go ashore without damage. Now you can see the problems they had on dday, because when the Landing Craft hit the sand bars, the men started wading ashore and found deeper water ahead, and those who had their life preservers too low turned turtle and many were drowned. These are units of the third army heading in, crossing the deep spot just ahead of them eaded toward cherbourg itself. This was a remarkable sight when the ships were lined up as far as the eye could see bringing supplies ashore. We needed cherbourg badly because we needed a port, but we discovered it was pretty badly destroyed by the germans themselves. They destroyed the docks which we thought we could use. It took almost two months before we can bring a ship in. They set up mines and destroyed the famous docks where the transatlantic liners used to land. They not only destroyed the docks but inland bridges that crossed the rivers in the rea. This is one of them destroyed by the germans. Soon the french people came back into the city and gave us a warm welcome. Soon we found the prisoners, and i think they took Something Like 16,000 or 18,000 men out of the cherbourg area, and they are Still Holding their personal belongings, marching toward the beaches because they had to be transported to england, and some eventually to the states to be held in prisoner of war camps. Even at this time those that could talk to us or would talk to us said we would be pushed back into the channel in less than a week. At the headquarters, we found that the germans had a picture of hitler, and our boys are using it as a pin board. The americans had a way of amusing themselves. Here is the First Official ceremony held in france, general collins on the right presented the tricolor flag made out of parachute cloth to the mayor of cherbourg, who was holding the microphone. Our boys of the seven corps were given clean uniforms for the ccasion. Soon the people who came back to cherbourg after the fighting stopped came to visit with us and talk to us. Here we see ernie pyle again in the center and talking to the colonel of the signal corps. This is burt brandt who we saw earlier shooting for a. P. Cecil cannes, and john mcglinchey. Here is oh gosh, 25 years has done a lot to my memory. The troops begin to move in the opposite direction to attack the enemy on the same low line. We were passing through the city of rologne and, of course, it was completely destroyed. I was there several times since the war and it has been rebuilt beautifully. The germans tried to make a stand here, and when ever they tried to make a stand, we had to knock them out, and in so doing, destroy the city. Later on, i had an opportunity to see the construction built by slave labor. All along the beach, especially in the normandy area, as well areas, they built these triangles. Many of them had mines attached to them so that if a boat touched them, they would explode. I was told after taking this walk that i should be very careful not to step where the ground is soft. This is a church in a pretty little town that the germans evacuated because the commander liked the city so much, the little town so much, he did not want to see it destroyed, and he withdrew rather than let it be destroyed. It was a little fishing village. I had the good fortune of coming back several times because the hotel was still intact and serving very excellent french food. A little further down the coast, we found these fortifications built by slave labor, and even these metal fences to keep us from landing in the area. These heavy fortifications that were many feet thick. These correspondents were looking at over. Looking it over. In some areas, the germans saw to it that they were destroyed, blowing them up so that we could not use them against them if they tried to take them ack. They even destroyed their own weapons. But we noticed that the walls and fortifications were very hick and strong. The area was taken over by the navy, and there was an observation post this is in a town called granville, and there is the lighthouse at the point that sort of separated normandy rom britain britainy brittany. That is the observation post the germans used, and our naval officers used. Soon we brought in some of our big armament, and they were set up in a field and firing at german positions. Even though the guns were firing, the french people were bringing in the crops as though nothing was happening. This surprised me. I couldnt help but want to make a picture of it. Of course, these heavy guns caused terrific concussion, and it was difficult to hold a handheld camera that long. One of the first things the americans did was to build an airstrip in the st. Mer eglise area. Ot far from the coast. They used a strip supported by metal wire to keep the planes from sinking into the ground. They were using it as a place to take off from with 500 pound bombs under each wing. But the strip was so rough that frequently the bombs would break loose, and even though they were armed, they had to be disarmed nd taken off the runway. These are p47s they were using here. There is one carrying a bomb under each wing to attack the enemy deep behind the lines. These two planes are taking off at once, raising considerable dust but managing to get off a very short runway. Here you notice a plane, noticed the buckle under the wheels. This sometimes caused the mesh wire to break and come up and hit 9 planes propeller, cause canning it to crash before it left the ground. Here is an unfortunate accident, o two of our planes. Here we see some pictures made by automatic cameras that were installed in the fighter planes, because when a pilot reported he had shot down an enemy plane, he was not given credit unless the pictures proved the plane was shot down. These automatic cameras would operate in conjunction with his machines guns. If you look closely, you can see the pilot jump out of the plane in the shot. Notice, too, a lot of the planes are carrying extra fuel tanks they were carrying under the wing. Whenever the bullets hit that tank, the plane would explode, s you will see here. When you saw shots like this, you know that the pilot never got back. One of the highlights of our trip across france was mont st. Ichel. Mont st. Michel was a river that separated normandy from brittany. This is bob kappa. Bob cappa here was eventually killed in indochina. But there we found the hotel, and the reason we liked it was because of the omelets, for which it was famous. Thats her and the famous hotel in the background. A lot of the correspondents gathered here to fight the war from this point because we were closer to the front line, if you could call it such, then we were at our main bases. There we can see the main river separating normandy from brittany. This is a beautiful Little Island. The building at the top is a monastery that was still intact.