BBC to reunite war vets in run-up to D-Day anniversary

LONDON - The BBC is to launch a community website that will help veterans of D-Day and those fighting on other fronts get in touch with former comrades, as part of plans to commemorate next year's 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings.

The site is due to launch towards the end of May and will be located at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2, giving veterans plenty of time to get in touch before the celebration in 2004 to mark the June 6 invasion of Europe by US, British and Canadian troops.

The 60th anniversary is likely to be one of the last major ceremonies attended by veterans of the historic landings, many of whom are now in their late 70s and 80s.

It will allow veterans to share their experiences of not just the landings in Normandy, since immortalised in films 'The Longest Day' and 'Saving Private Ryan', but experiences throughout World War II, in an effort to produce what is hoped will be a personal account of Britain at war and a important learning resource for future generations.

A spokesman for the BBC said that the idea came from the realisation that as the survivors of the Second World War get ever fewer, there is a great need for their children and grand-children to find out what they did, where they served, and what really happened to them.

The site is also setting out to help answer some of the more personal unanswered questions, such as 'what part did members of my family play during the war?'. The official records contain only some of the answers and not many of the personal stories and experiences.

The WW2 site will let the public piece together the personal stories of individual family war histories, whether they were fighting or on the home front.

Users will be able to post these stories to the site, where they will link directly to content from relevant regimental and other unit-related associations, as well as contextual material from BBCi's History site.

During the past year, the production team have been working with third parties, from the Imperial War Museum to the Public Records Office, to build a database of all units of the British Army that served during the war, which will form the backbone to the site and provide hooks on which users can pin their stories.

From the end of May, the site will grow as users begin to help each other to research and write up their personal stories. As more and more individual stories are added to the site, it will grow organically to flesh out the bare bones of the official record and create a unique history of the nation at war.

The 60th anniversary will be attended by leaders of all the wartime allies, including George W Bush and Tony Blair.

The landings took place on June 6 1944 when, at around midnight, British and American glider and paratroops seized key bridges and roads ahead of the sea armada that landed more than 150,000 troops along the length of the Normandy coast.

The 60th anniversary will include a major parachute drop by Allied troops, with British celebration centring on Pegasus Bridge near Caen.

The BBC's coverage of the 60th anniversary will also include much live coverage of the events and two multimillion-pound docudramas made in association with Discovery Communications.

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