INTO THE TEMPEST

 

New book reveals last words of doomed HMS Bounty's arrogant captain who'd sailed INTO the path of Hurricane Sandy Skipper robin Walbridge's last words are revealed in a new book The Gathering Wind out next week He told his 15 crew - one of whom would die alongside him - 'learn from this' The 180ft tall HMS Bounty - built for the 1962 Marlon Brando classic Mutiny on the Bounty, sank off the coast of North Carolina on October 29 last year Walbridge has been painted as an arrogant man who rode his luck one too many times - and claims that the ship should never have set sail at all The family of deckhand Claudene Christian, 42, who died have filed $90 million lawsuit over her death But book reveals that despite withering official report into the sinking, his crew still stick by him He was the captain who led his crew into eye of Superstorm Sandy, the biggest and most brutal hurricane in living memory. But it was only just as the famed HMS Bounty was about to sink that Robin Walbridge finally admitted defeat, MailOnline can reveal. In ‘The Gathering Wind’, a new book seen exclusively by MailOnline before its release next week, Walbridge called the crew of 15 below deck for one last speech in which he ordered them: 'Learn from this.' In sharp contrast to his previous defiance, he shouted above the howling winds tearing the ship apart: ‘What went wrong? At what point did we lose control?’ Destruction: A new book has detailed the final moments of The HMS Bounty, a 180-foot sailboat, which submerged in the Atlantic Ocean during Hurricane Sandy approximately 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina Walbridge’s last, ominous words to them all were: ‘Get some rest while you can. You’re going to need it’. The 180ft tall HMS Bounty, which was built for the 1962 Marlon Brando classic Mutiny on the Bounty, sank off the coast of North Carolina near Cape Hatteras early in the morning of Monday October 29th last year in an area known as the ‘Graveyard of the Atlantic’. Two of the crew on the ship died; Walbridge, 63, and deckhand Claudene Christian, 42, a former University of Southern California song girl. Fourteen others survived. Afterwards grave concerns were raised about the entire expedition, the Coast Guard began an official inquiry and Christian’s family filed a $90 million lawsuit over her death. Walbridge has been painted as an arrogant man who rode his luck one too many times - with fatal consequences. Critics say he should never have even set sail at all. Sandy, a ‘Frankenstorm’ made up of two storm systems, would go on to affect some 60 million Americans as it tore up the East coast and grow to 1,100 miles wide with winds up to 110mph. The streets of Manhattan flooded and knocked out the power for half of the island, some $68 billion of damage was caused in the US and at least 286 people were killed. Dramatic: An image taken inside the helicopter shows the moment crew members were saved from the ship Walbridge was aware of the warnings about Sandy because he got them on the ship’s computer - but still decided to go directly into its path. He left New London, Connecticut on Thursday October 25th bound for St Petersburg, Florida on board the ship that he had captained for 17 years and was the love of his life. It was a replica of the 1784 Royal Navy vessel which has also appeared in a string of Hollywood blockbusters including two Pirates of the Caribbean films. But it was also not licensed to take the public out to sea and Walbridge had a reputation for bending the rules to keep it afloat with not enough money for extensive repairs. Walbridge was apparently convinced that the hundreds of experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were wrong and that the storm would not continue its path up the Eastern Coast of the US. Instead he thought that it would come out into the Atlantic Ocean and he could creep round it to the West. He was wrong. In one of her last communications before she died, Christian texted a friend in Florida: ‘Wow! Here we go... straight into Hurricane Sandy.’ Struggle: A footage still shows one of the crew of the Bounty being rescued from a life raft by the Coast Guard after the vessel sank after the captain went against forecasters' advice and sailed into the storm The adventure of a lifetime for some of the crew who were young and loving the romance of sailing a tall ship was about to end. Waves up to 30ft high - the size of two story houses - crashed over the vessel, sending deck hand Adam Prokosh, 27, flying between decks, dislocating his shoulder and breaking several ribs. One wave propelled Walbridge into a table, leaving him badly hurt and lying on the floor in pain. The wind ripped down several sails and at 6.30pm on Sunday October 28th the second generator failed meaning that they were unable to pump out the bilge water that swamped the lower decks in a matter of hours, meaning they were were adrift and taking on water in the middle of the storm. The crew had already alerted the coast guard which sent a plane sent from North Carolina to track them down but the winds were so severe it would be sent up two hundred feet in a second, then go back down again a second later. In 'The Gathering Wind' author Gregory A. Freeman writes that as it became apparent that the end was nigh, Walbridge called the crew to the navigation shack and ‘looked over them silently’. Destroyed: An image taken in July 2010 shows the tall ship HMS Bounty sailing on Lake Erie off Cleveland He told them: ‘Water bottles. Don’t forget to take your own water bottle with you….make sure there’s an EPIRB (emergency beacon) activated in each life raft….stay together’. The book reads: ‘But then Walbridge got to what was really on his mind. He must have understood that his decision to set sail from New London was a mistake. ‘And Walbridge always taught his crew to learn from their mistakes. This was to be his last teachable moment for the crew of the Bounty. ‘He said: ‘I’d like everyone to brainstorm where we went wrong’. ‘How did we get here,’ Walbridge asked loudly, looking around the nav shack, still in command of his ship. ‘What went wrong? At what point did we lose control?’ ‘There was only silence as Walbridge looked around the room. His crew watched him intently, but some had trouble meeting his gaze. They knew what Walbridge was saying to them. 'Learn from this,' Walbridge said more quietly.' The book says that Walbridge looked weary in a way that they had never seen before. Walbridge then told them his final words as their captain: ‘Get some rest while you can. You’re going to need it in a couple of hours.’ 'Arrogant': The late Captain Robin Walbridge, pictured working on the Bounty in 2011, 'recklessly ignored Sandy's size, scope and intensity', according to a lawsuit brought by the family of a victim. Before the storm: Bosun Laura Groves and Chris Malloon work on the rigging in 2010 as the Bounty sailed between New Brunswick and Maine for a haul out. Two crew members died in the storm but 14 survived The crew radioed the C-130 coast guard plane circling over head at 4.45am on Sunday October 25th to say the Bounty was capsizing. Everyone got into a ‘Gumby’ suit, which is a large inflatable survival suit - then all hell broke loose when the Bounty suddenly turned on its side, sending everyone into the water. New details: The final terrifying moments are detailed in the new book, out next week The book recounts how the masts and rigging kept rising up in the water and crashing down on the sailors, hitting first mate John Svendsen and breaking his arm and cutting his face. Every time the rest of the crew tried to swim away - which took a superhuman effort in their bulky Gumby suits - another rope would tangle onto them and try to suck them under. Their suits were so heavy and their hands were so bulky inside them that it took 45 minutes to get the first person in the life raft by grabbing a rope to pull themselves up with their teeth. Somehow 14 of the 16 on board made it to life rafts or clung on to wooden that was floating in the debris until the coastguard helicopter picked them all up. Christian’s body was later found floating by another coastguard helicopter team. Walbridge was never seen again, but soon after the recriminations began. In February the Coast Guard held a week-long hearing in Portsmouth, Virginia into what happened. Its official report is due next year. What came out left Christian’s family appalled. Walbridge was apparently so keen to get to Florida on time because he had scheduled a meeting with a nonprofit organization dedicated to Down syndrome research, which might have helped bring in some money for the ship too. The suggestion was that he and the ship’s owner, New York businessman Robert Hanse, were worried that if they missed the meeting the agreement would fall apart. Team: Captain Walbridge (right) is pictured working with the other Bounty crew. Despite his apparently rash - and ultimately deadly - decisions, the crew has refused to say a bad word against the captain During the hearing it also emerged that, whilst in dry dock before the trip, Walbridge refused to approve the removal of rotten wood on the boat because it would have cost a lot of money. An unfortunate interview he gave emerged in which he bragged ‘we chase hurricanes’ and said that they gave the ship a ‘good ride’. Walbridge also did not tell his crew the full extent of Sandy’s strength and when senior members raised concerns he told them not to worry. No other tall ships were out of port during Sandy, and hardly any other vessels were even with more modern hulls made of steel. Hanse refused to testify at the coast guard hearing and took the Fifth meaning nobody will ever know the full truth. So Christian’s family’s lawsuit against him, Walbridge, the Bounty operating company and the crew alleging that the ship ended up in ‘the greatest mismatch between a vessel and a peril of the sea that would ever occur or could be imagined’. The lawsuit states: ‘Captain Walbridge, who was focused on the rewards lying in St Petersburg, recklessly ignored Sandy's size, scope and intensity. Crew: Chief mate John Svendsen at the helm of the Bounty in 2010. He was second in command on the Bounty and known for his calm authority Working together: Third mate Dan Cleveland doing some maintenance on the rigging of the Bounty in 2011 ‘He also grossly overestimated, to the point of recklessness, Bounty's seaworthiness and overestimated his professional seamanship and weather forecasting abilities to the point of arrogant hubris’. Despite the overwhelming evidence that he put them in grave danger for no reason, Walbridge’s crew still somehow stood by him. It is one of the most puzzling episodes of the whole tragedy, not least as they were being paid just $100 a week for working 18-hour days. Under questioning at the hearing Jess Hewitt, a 25-year-old qualified captain and crew member, refused to put the knife into Walbridge. And when told by a lawyer for Christian’s family that nobody would say a bad word against him, her response was: ‘That’s awesome’. Third mate Dan Cleveland, 25, was even more forthright in his defence of Walbridge. ‘The Gathering Wind’ reads: ‘If Walbridge were alive today and proposed sailing into another hurricane or storm, Cleveland would go with him because the outcome of the Bounty's last voyage was not inevitable. Tragedy: As well as the captain, a woman died and other crew members suffered broken bones and injuries ‘The loss of the ship and two lives was the result of series of problems, he says, and that the sequence of events does not have to repeat itself. If just a few things had turned out differently, the Bounty would have made it through Hurricane Sandy, he insists.' Speaking to MailOnline, Freeman said that in his assessment Walbridge did make a 'serious and tragic mistake'. He thought that in time the crew will eventually 'come to the realization that Walbridge made tragic errors’, but that the camaraderie was so strong the couldn’t see it yet. He said: 'It's hard to call for a mutiny because it's such a powerful word but in retrospect, I think the crew should have more forcefully told the captain that this was a bad idea, yes'. Freeman, who has previously written a narrative non-fiction book about WWII soldiers, added that in those final moments Walbridge ‘realised that he had made this error’. He said: 'I don't see him as the villain. Everyone agrees that he had an admirable career on the sea until that point and he was considered a very fine captain'.

INTO THE TEMPEST   Their journeys would end in tragic circumstances, crushed up against the rocks with the precious cargo lost and some of the crew members dead. But, no matter the treacherous conditions, every time a ship ran aground off the coast of Cornwall, members of the Gibson family would be there to take photos of the vessel's demise. These ghostly images of shipwrecks were first taken 150 years ago when John Gibson bought his first camera and have now been put together in a collection which is expected to be sold for between £100,000 and £150,000 at an auction next month.   Crowded: The Dutch cargo ship Voorspoed pictured surrounded by horses used to help take away the cargo after it was wrecked at Perran Bay, Cornwall in March 1901. All of those on board died in the incident as the ship travelled from to Newfoundland, Canada to Perranporth, Cornwall.   History: The Minnehaha was shipwrecked in 1874 as it travelled from Peru to Dublin, it was carrying guano to be used as fertiliser and struck Peninnis Head rocks when the captain lost his way. The ship sank so quickly that some men were drowned in their berths, ten died in total including the captain. Taken by four generations of the family of photographers over a period of 130 years, the 1000 negatives record the wrecks of more than 200 ships and the fate of their passengers, crew and cargo as they travelled from across the world through the notoriously treacherous seas around Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly At the very forefront of early photojournalism, John Gibson and his descendants were determined to be first on the scene when these shipwrecks struck. Each and every wreck had its own story to tell with unfolding drama, heroics, tragedies and triumphs to be photographed and recorded - the news of which the Gibsons would disseminate to the British mainland and beyond. The original handwritten eye-witness accounts as recorded by Alexander and Herbert Gibson in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries will be sold alongside the collection of images. Dark: The Norwegian sailing ship the Hansy,was wrecked in November 1911 on the eastern side of the Lizard in Cornwall. Three men were rescued by lifeboat and all of the rest of the passengers managed to escape up onto the rocks. Hypnotizing: turbulent ocean  during a storm Tempest: Waves crash as the ocean swells         Bad weather: The Bay of Panama was wrecked under Nare Head, near St Keverne, Cornwall during a huge blizzard in March 1898. At the time it was wrecked it was carrying a cargo of Jute, used to make hessian cloth, from Calcutta in India, 18 of those on board died but 19 were rescued.   Founder and apprentice: John Gibson (right) started the business after buying his first camera and took on his son Herbert (right) as an apprentice in 1865 The Gibson family passion for photography was passed down through an astonishing four generations from John Gibson, who purchased his first camera 150 years ago. Born in 1827, and a seaman by trade, it is not known how or where John Gibson acquired his first camera at time when photography was typically reserved for the wealthiest in society. However by 1860 he had established himself as a professional photographer in a studio in Penzance. Returning to the Scillies in 1865, he  employed his two sons Alexander and Herbert as apprentices in the business, forging a personal and professional unity which would be passed down through all the generations which followed. Inseparable from his brother until the end, it is said that Alexander almost threw himself into Herbert’s grave at his funeral in 1937. The family’s famous shipwreck photography began in 1869, on the historic occasion of the arrival of the first Telegraph on the Isles of Scilly. At a time when it could take a week for word to reach the mainland from the islands, the Telegraph transformed the pace at which news could travel. At the forefront of early photojournalism, John became the islands’ local news correspondent, and Alexander the telegraphist - and it is little surprise that the shipwrecks were often major news. On the occasion of the wreck of the 3500-ton German steamer, Schiller in 1876 when over 300 people died, the two worked together for days - John preparing newspaper reports, and Alexander transmitting them across the world, until he collapsed with exhaustion. Although they often worked in the harshest conditions, travelling with hand carts to reach the shipwrecks - scrambling over treacherous coastline with a portable dark room, carrying glass plates and heavy equipment - they produced some of the most arresting and emotive photographic works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Crash: The French ship, the Seine was on her way to Falmouth with a cargo of nitrate when she ran into a gale off Scilly on Decermber 28, 1900. She ran ashore in Perran Bay, Perranporth, Cornwall, but thankfully all crew members were rescued with Captain Guimper reported as the last man to leave the ship before she was broken up in the next flood tide. Crash: The German owned 300ft merchant vessel the Cita, sunk after it pierced its hull and ran aground in gale-force winds en route from Southampton to Belfast in March 1997. The mainly Polish crew of the stricken vessel were rescued a few hours after the incident by the RNLI and the wreck remained on the rock ledge for several days before slipping off into deeper water. Generations: When Herbert Gibson died,  the business changed hands to his son James (left) who had assisted him for ten years. Frank (right) left the Isle of Scilly after a family argument and went to learn about new technology which helped advance the business when he returned in 1957 Storm: A French trawler called the Jeanne Gougy pictured being engulfed by waves at Land's End in 1962. It was on its way to fishing grounds on the southern Irish coast from Dieppe in France when it went aground on the north side of Lands End in the early hours of November 3rd. Twelve men including the skipper were lost, swept away by massive waved before they could be rescued. Rex Cowan, a shipwreck hunter and author said: 'This is the greatest archive of the drama and mechanics of shipwreck we will ever see - a thousand images stretching over 130 years, of such power, insight and nostalgia that even the most passive observer cannot fail to feel the excitement or pathos of the events they depict.' Spy author John Le Carre said of the collection: 'We are standing in an Aladdin’s cave where the Gibson treasure is stored, and Frank is its keeper. 'It is half shed, half amateur laboratory, a litter of cluttered shelves, ancient equipment, boxes, printer’s blocks and books. Precious cargo: The Glenbervie, which was carrying a consignment of pianos and high quality spirits crashed into rocks Lowland Point near Coverack, Cornwall, in January 1902 after losing her way in bad weather. The British owned barque was laden with 600 barrels of whisky, 400 barrels of brandy and barrels of rum. All 16 crewmen were saved by lifeboat. 'Many hundreds of plates and thousands of photographs are still waiting an inventory. Most have never seen the light of day. Any agent, publisher or accountant would go into free fall at the very sight of them.' And fellow author John Fowles said: 'Other men have taken fine shipwreck photographs, but nowhere else in the world can one family have produced such a consistently high and poetic standard of work.' The archive will be sold as a single lot in Sotheby’s Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History sale. Lost: The Mildred was traveling from Newport to London when it got stuck in dense fog and hit rocks at Gurnards Head at midnight on the 6th April 1912. Captain Larcombe and his crew of two Irishmen, one Welshman and a Mexican rowed into St. Ives as their ship was destroyed by the waves.   Saved: British ship, the City of Cardiff was en route from Le Havre, France, to Wales in 1912 when it was wrecked in Mill Bay near Land's End. All of the crew were rescued Stuck: The steamer City of Cardiff pictured trapped on rocks with steam still coming out of the chimney, it was washed ashore by a strong gale in March 1912 at Nanjizel. The Captain, his wife and son, and the crew were all rescued but the vessel was left a total wreck. Sinking: A British built iron sailing barque, The Cromdale, ran into Lizard Point, the most southerly point of British mainland, in thick fog. The three-masted ship was on a voyage from Taltal, Chile to Fowey, Cornwall with a cargo of nitrates. There were no casualties but within a week the ship had been broken up completely by the sea.   Apprentice: Alexander Gibson was invited by his father John into the business in 1865 The Gibson family originated from the Isleof Scilly and have 300 years of family history. John Gibson acquired his first camera whilst abroad around 150 years ago when photography was still mainly reserved for the wealthiest members of society. He had to go to sea from a young age to supplement the income from a small shop on St Mary’s run by his widowed mother. Making ends meet on St Mary’s was a constant struggle and he learned to use the camera and set up a photography studio in Penzance. Around 1866 he returned to St Mary’s with his family and he was assisted in his photography by his sons Alexander and Herbert in the studio shed in the back garden of their home. Both Herbert and Alexander learned the art of photography at their father’s knee and Alexander was to become one of the most remarkable characters in Scilly. He had a passion for archaeology, architecture and folk history. He took endless pictures of ruins, prehistoric remains, and artifacts not just in Scilly but all over Cornwall. Herbert by contrast was a quiet man, a competent photographer and a sound businessman. There can be no doubt that without his steadying influence, the business aspect of their photography might not have survived Alexander’s more flamboyant approach. Frank spent some time working for photographers in Cornwall learning about new technology. But Frank returned to Scilly in 1957 and worked in partnership with his father for two years. After this time it was apparent that they could not work together and James retired to Cornwall and sold the business to Frank. Under Frank’s stewardship the business expanded. He produced postcards and sold souvenirs to supplement the photography, and opened another shop. Scilly is always in the news and there is always demand for pictures by the press.

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Breakthrough: THE INVASION OF NORMANDY

 

Original color photographs of the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II. From British and American soldiers preparing for the invasion in England to German prisoners being marched through the streets after France’s liberation, these images are some of the only color photographs taken during the war. This set of photographs is primarily from the German Galerie Bilderwelt, part of Getty Image’s exclusive Hulton Archive collection. See more historic images from The Captured Blog: Photos: America in Color from 1939-1943 Photos: The Pacific and Adjacent Theaters in WWII 1 Some of the first American soldiers to attack the German defenses in Higgins Boats (LCVPs) approach Omaha Beach near Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. Plastic covers protect the soldier's weapons against from the water. (Photo by Robert F. Sargent, U.S. Coast Guard/Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 2 Allied ships, boats and barrage balloons off Omaha Beach after the successful D-Day invasion, near Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France on June 9, 1944. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 3 British Navy Landing Crafts (LCA-1377) carry United States Army Rangers to a ship near Weymouth in Southern England on June 1, 1944. British soldiers can be seen in the conning station. For safety measures, U.S. Rangers remained consigned on board English ships for five days prior to the invasion of Normandy, France. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 4 A U.S. Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) filled with invasion troops approaches the French coast from the sea in June of 1944. The GIs wear life vests in preparation for the landing. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 5 Planes from the 344th Bomb Group, which led the IX Bomber Command formations on D-Day on June 6, 2014. Operations started in March 1944 with attacks on targets in German-occupied France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. After the beginning of the Normandy invasion, the Group was active at Cotentin Peninsula, Caen, Saint-Lo and the Falaise Gap. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 6 Private Clyde Peacock, 1st Military Police (MP) Platoon of the 1st Infantry Division of the United States Army in June 1944 in Dorset, United Kingdom. The 1st Division was one of the two divisions that stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day suffering high casualties. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 7 Troops from the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division landing at Juno Beach on the outskirts of Bernieres-sur-Mer on D-Day, June 6, 1944. 14,000 Canadian soldiers were put ashore and 340 lost their lives in the battles for the beachhead. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) #   8 A general view of the scene on D-Day, WWII, at Normandy Beach, France on June 6, 1944. (Photo by Camerique/Getty Images) # 9 An Allied plane crash burns during the fighting in Normandy, France in June of 1944. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 10 German Prisoners of War are kept behind barbed wire on Omaha Beach on June 10, 1944. Landing Ship, Tanks can be seen on the beach and barrage balloons in the air for protection. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 11 From left, Chief of the Imperial General Staff Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in Normandy on June 12, 1944, six days after the D-Day landings during Operation Overlord Normandy in World War II. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 12 Trucks of the 1st Infantry Division of the United States Army are loaded into a Landing Ship Tank (LST) in Dorset, United Kingdom, on June 5th, 1944. The LST forms part of Group 30 of the LST Flotilla. The 1st Division was one of the two divisions that stormed Omaha Beach in Normandy, France on D-Day suffering high casualties. It secured Formigny and Caumont in the beachhead. D-Day is still one of the world's most gut-wrenching and consequential battles, as the Allied landing in Normandy led to the liberation of France which marked the turning point in the Western theater of World War II. (AFP PHOTO/Getty Images) # 13 Two American soldiers watch U. S. Army jeeps driving through the ruins in Saint-Lo in August of 1944. The town was almost totally destroyed by 2,000 Allied bombers when they attacked German troops stationed there during Operation Overlord Normandy in June. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 14 Jeeps and other U. S. Army vehicles drive through the ruins of Saint-Lo in August of 1944. The town was almost totally destroyed by 2,000 Allied bombers when they attacked German troops stationed there during Operation Overlord Normandy in June. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images)# 15 German Prisoners of War are kept behind barbed wire in Normandy, France in June of 1944. More than 200,000 German soldiers were captured during the Battle of Normandy. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 16 A farmer and his son in front of their damaged house during the Allied invasion of France in July of 1944. Bombing of German positions caused damage throughout the area. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 17 Signal Corps photographer Sergeant Fred Bornet films a town in Normandy, France in June of 1944. Fred 'Freddy' Bornet was born in Scheveningen, Holland. Fluent in French, English and German, he migrated to the United States in 1939 as a 24 year old primarily to escape Hitler. He then became a member of the 163rd Signal Corps Company. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 18 American troops with German prisoners of war on board a Landing Craft Transport (LCT) in June of 1944. The prisoners will be taken to a Liberty Ship in the English Channel during the Allied invasion of Normandy. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 19 United States Rangers from E Company, 5th Ranger Battalion, on board a landing craft assault vessel (LCA) in Weymouth harbor, Dorset, on June 4, 1944. The ship is bound for the D-Day landing on Omaha Beach in Normandy. Clockwise, from far left: First Sergeant Sandy Martin, who was killed during the landing, Technician Fifth Grade Joseph Markovich, Corporal John Loshiavo and Private First Class Frank E. Lockwood. They are holding a 60mm mortar, a Bazooka, a Garand rifle and a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 20 The 1st Infantry Division of the United States Army (The 'Big Red One') in Dorset, United Kingdom on June 5, 1944 before departing for Omaha Beach. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 21 U.S. Army Medics treating two GIs at a first aid post in southern England in 1944. The soldiers are among the troops due to embark for the invasion of Normandy. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 22 A truck from the 1st Infantry Division of the United States Army is loaded into the Landing Ship Tank in Dorset, United Kingdom in June of 1944. The LST forms part of Group 30 of the LST Flotilla. The 1st Division was one of the two divisions that stormed Omaha Beach in Normandy, France on D-Day suffering high casualties. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 23 U. S. Army trucks and jeeps from the invasion against the German troops enter a town in Normandy, France in June of 1944. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 24 U.S. troops on the Esplanade at Weymouth, Dorset, on their way to ships bound for Omaha Beach for the D-Day landings in Normandy in June of 1944. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 25 German Prisoners of War captured during the Allied invasion of Normandy in June of 1944. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 26 German Prisoners of War who have arrived on HM Landing Ship Tank (LST-165) at Gosport, Hampshire, in June of 1944. This is the first transport with prisoners from the Allied invasion of Normandy. They will be interrogated and distributed to various camps according to their classification. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 27 1,096 German Prisoners of War are marched through the town of Gosport, Hampshire, guarded by British soldiers, in June of 1944. The prisoners arrived on HM Landing Ship Tank (LST-165), the first transport with prisoners from the Allied invasion of Normandy. They will be interrogated and distributed to various camps according to their classification. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 28 U. S. Army trucks and jeeps are driving through the ruins of Saint-Lo in July of 1944. A group of American soldiers walks along the street. The town was almost totally destroyed by 2,000 Allied bombers when they attacked German troops stationed there during Operation Overlord Normandy in June. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 29 Two U. S. Army trucks and two American jeeps are driving through the ruins of Saint-Lo in August of 1944. The town was almost totally destroyed by 2,000 Allied bombers when they attacked German troops stationed there during Operation Overlord Normandy in June. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) # 30 Two children watch an American Army jeep driving through the ruins of Saint-Lo in August of 1944. The town was almost totally destroyed by 2,000 Allied bombers when they attacked German troops stationed there during Operation Overlord Normandy in June. (Photo

Then and now: This unique set of photographs shows D-Day locations as you have never seen them before One photographer armed with a handful of D-Day photographs went out to find the original locations Then, using the exact spot used 70 years ago, a new photograph of the same scene was taken From troops loading in Weymouth, Dorset, to the aftermath of the battle for Caen there is a striking similarity As thousands of veterans remember the sacrifice of their fallen comrades who gave their lives during the opening days of Operation Overlord, life at many of the locations that saw the heaviest fighting continues as normal. In a fitting tribute to the fight against Nazi tyranny, young children are enjoying the freedom secured by those brave men and women on those dark days 70 years ago as the allies struggled for a foot-hold on mainland Europe. By the end of the first day, in the region of 160,00 allied troops had made it ashore along a 50 mile stretch of the Normandy coastline at a cost of 4,000 lives. Scroll down for video +22 US Army Rangers marching to their landing craft on June 5, 1944 in Weymouth, Dorset on their way to capture a coastal defence battery protecting Omaha Beach +22 The barbed wire has long since been removed from the Dorset holiday town of Weymouth, which one of the launchpads for the invasion of Europe +22 In the middle of the chaos of Omaha beach, US troops struggle ashore after their landing craft is sunk by murderous German fire from the cliffs above +22 Today, tourists enjoy the sunshine on the beach near Colleville sur Mer although a bucket and spade has replaced the M1 Garand rifle as the tool of choice Omaha Beach, which was protected by overhanging cliffs had some of the most intense fighting of D-Day. Yesterday President Barack Obama visited the area as a 'powerful manifestation of America's commitment to human freedom'. President Obama said that 'by daybreak, blood soaked the water' and 'thousands of rounds bit into flesh and sand'. He also spent time at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial where almost 10,000 white marble tombstones overlook the battle site. +22 After the success of the initial assault, US troops flooded Omaha to reinforce the beach head and break out into the French countryside before a counter attack +22 Today the only threat of counter-attack comes during a game of beach football on the sands where the second front in Europe against Adolf Hitler was opened At the time of D-Day, supreme commander of the Allied invasion forces was smoking four packets of camel cigarettes a day. During the preparations for the invasion, cartographers printed 17 million maps. The invasion was a logistical nightmare, with industry spending months preparing seven million jerry cans to carry fuel as troops advanced from the beach head. Special tanks were deployed on D-Day to destroy some of the four million mines which had been deployed to kill and maim soldiers and disable armour. +22 Elements of the US 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division are dug in behind a concrete wall on Utah beach preparing to advance towards La Madeleine +22 Over the past 70 years the concrete wall has crumbled allowing easier access for families going home after an enjoyable day in the surf U US paratroops who dropped into Normandy carried almost 55 kg of equipment, including two morphine syringes, 'one for pain, two for eternity'. They also carried 24 sheets of toilet paper in their emergency ration packs, as well as four chocolate bars and some tobacco.     +22 In the aftermath of D-Day a lone soldier stands guard beside the remains of US fighter aircraft which has crash landed on Juno Beach during the assault +22 Two rubbish bins mark the spot where a US fighter aircraft crashed on D-Day, while changing huts have replaced the broken ammunition crates strewn across the sand On Juno Beach, British and Canadian reinforcements are faced with wading past the bodies of hundreds of dead soldiers, killed during the opening attacks. Soldiers are warned they must clear the beach without stopping, leaving behind injured comrades because of the intense fire from the defending Germans. +22 US troops march up a hill overlooking Omaha Beach passing concrete bunker which had been earlier raking machine gun fire across the first troops to hit the sand +22 The concrete bunker remains as a reminder of the occupation while visitors to the beach today arrive in family saloons rather than amphibious tanks and landing craft By the end of D-Day, the allies had landed 156,000 troops in Normandy suffering 10,000 casualties. Of the casualties, an estimated 4,000 lost their lives. Within five days, almost 330,000 troops had crossed the English Channel supported by 54,186 vehicles carrying 104,428 tonnes of supplies.             The carnage after D-Day: Last week Britain celebrated the epic heroism. But few remember the blood-soaked battles that came next - brought to life in a gripping book by one of our greatest historians Enemy artillery shells were crashing above the heads of Lieutenant Alastair Bannerman and his men of the Royal  Warwickshire Regiment as they sped in a troop carrier through the Normandy countryside. It was June 7, 1944, the day after D-Day, and they had fought their way inland from the beachhead eight miles away to the village of Lebisey, on the outskirts of the strategically vital city of Caen. They drove almost blind along a typical Normandy sunken road with high banks and hedges before emerging suddenly into the sunlight and the middle of a formation of enemy tanks. Turning into a wheat field, they deployed their anti-tank guns, the men swearing volubly as they fired. But then a shell knocked out the carrier, and as the survivors tried to slip back to their own lines, they were captured. +4 Slow progress: Allied troops in the fight for Caen fire on the dogged German soldiers holding the town The Germans were friendly enough, offering their prisoners wine even as shells came whistling over from the armada of Allied ships out in the Channel. ‘I think we’d better dig a hole, don’t you?’ a German soldier suggested to Bannerman, and the two of them began scraping furiously. Sitting side by side in the trench they’d made, showing each other photographs of their wives in between cowering from the bombardment, the German insisted: ‘You British will be back in the sea in a few days.’ ‘No, I’m sorry,’ Bannerman replied just as forcefully. ‘We will be in Paris in a week.’ Both were spectacularly wrong in their predictions. The Allies would cling on to their foothold in France; in that sense, the invasion was a success. But equally, any hopes of a swift advance and a German rout were dashed. In the three months ahead, a desperate war would be fought in Normandy, with close to half a million casualties on all sides. In last weekend’s 70th anniversary D-Day celebrations, there was understandably a focus on the beaches and what it must have been like for Allied soldiers coming ashore in their landing craft under heavy fire, sick with fear and thrown around by  the waves. But the truth often overlooked is that casualties on D-Day were far fewer than expected. The real carnage came later, and further inland, during the battle for Normandy. The German threat to throw what one general contemptuously described as ‘the little fishes’ back into the Channel was a ridiculous boast that was soon overtaken by events. But Paris would remain out of reach of the Allies until the end of August. In between, all hell broke out. The problem for the Allies was that, though they established a firm beachhead on D-Day, they failed in their further objective. The plan for General Bernard Montgomery’s Second Army was to take Caen by midnight on June 6, leaving the door wide open into the country beyond. But, as Lt Bannerman was discovering in the makeshift shelter he shared with his German captor, Caen was heavily defended and out of reach, for now at least. The German commanders, Rundstedt and Rommel, had second-guessed Montgomery. They did not have the men or tanks for a full-on counter-attack, but realised that if Caen fell, so might the town of Falaise 30 miles further on, and then there would be the real possibility not only of an Allied dash for Paris but that all German forces in Normandy and Brittany would be cut off. So they positioned a panzer division on the high ground in front of Caen, from which it inflicted heavy losses on advancing forces. The pattern for the Normandy battle was set in which slow and painful Allied attacks were met by German forces rushing like a fire brigade to plug the gaps. In these circumstances, the Germans could never hope to win a major victory. But they retained an extraordinary ability to thwart their opponents and inflict heavy casualties. British commanders soon began to fear they might even run out of manpower if they could not find a way to break out of this battle of attrition. It didn’t help that the failure to expand the beachhead as planned was leaving far too little room to bring in urgently needed reinforcements and supplies. Almost every orchard and field in the rear area was crammed with fuel depots, supply dumps, repair workshops, base camps, field hospitals and vehicle parks. +4 Easier than had been expected: After the initial landings on Sword Beach, round the port of Ouistreham, British troops prepare to move off the beach and push inland towards Caen - but then they ran into trouble Meanwhile, the RAF was furious that its operations harassing the enemy were being hampered because there were no forward airfields for Spitfires and Typhoons that were not within the range of German artillery. As the bloody stalemate in front of Caen became clear, Montgomery, his master plan scuppered, spread out a map on the bonnet of his Humber staff car and devised a new one — a pincer movement to encircle the city. He decided to send his two ‘best batsmen’ into play on June 11. On the left flank he placed the 51st Highland Division and on the right the 7th Armoured Division, the famed Desert Rats. Both had distinguished themselves under his command in North Africa — but they were to receive a rude shock in Normandy. Going into battle, the 51st could not make headway and were completely disorientated by the small, sharp actions of the Germans as they blocked the way with sudden deadly mortar ‘stonks’ and artillery barrages. ‘The fury of artillery is a cold, mechanical fury,’ wrote a Highlander, ‘but its intent is personal. When  you are under its fire you are the sole  target. All of that shrieking, whining venom is directed at you and at  no one else. ‘You hunch in your hole in the ground, reduce yourself into as small a thing as you can become, and you harden your muscles in a pitiful attempt at defying the jagged, burning teeth of the shrapnel. Involuntarily you curl up into the foetal position, except that your hands go down to protect your genitalia.’ The same soldier graphically described the psychological collapse of the most warlike member of his company under this barrage. In the cellar of a farmhouse, he curled up on the floor, howling and sobbing, ‘his face smeared with tears and snot as he bleated for his mother in a shameless surrender’. He was far from alone. A battalion commander of the Black Watch broke down and had to be relieved of his command after losing 200 men in a single attack. Meanwhile, the Desert Rats were  faring no better as they advanced through bocage country along sunken lanes and high hedges between the woods and fields. Despite all the months of training for the invasion, the Allies were totally unprepared for this beautiful but claustrophobic terrain. Hedgerows were at least three times the height of English ones,  heavily banked and far too dense for even a tank to smash through. Attacking through the leafy green tunnels ‘gives you the bloody creeps’, said one trooper. ‘In the desert, we could see them, and they could see us. Here they can see us, but I’ll be buggered if we can see them.’ The Desert Rats’ immediate goal was the town of Villers-Bocage, which they entered in their Cromwell tanks on the morning of June 13 to an ecstatic reception. Gendarmes in their best uniforms held back the crowds, who threw flowers on to the tanks and offered presents of cider and butter. The only enemy presence was a German eight-wheeled armoured car which was sighted but quickly disappeared. So the triumphant Desert Rats rolled on somewhat nonchalantly towards their next objective, without bothering to send scouts up ahead. In a small wood close to the road up which they were advancing, five German Tiger tanks lay hidden. They had just reached the front after a long haul from north of Paris. Their commander was a panzer ace credited with 137 tank ‘kills’ on the Russian front. He watched as the first squadron of British tanks halted as the crews got out to stretch their legs. They were behaving, one of his gunners thought, as if they had won the war. Suddenly the panzer commander, Michael Wittman, swung out of the wood, took aim and fired at the Cromwells, destroying each one in turn. The British tanks did not stand a chance. Badly designed, under-armoured and under-gunned, they even found it hard to back out of danger, since their reverse speed was little more than 2mph. +4 Hard fought: A wounded eighteen-year-old German sniper taken prisoner in the Caen-Tilly sector. The German Tigers then lumbered into the main street of the town, where more British tanks were lined up with many of their crews dismounted. Once more Wittman took aim. Even those Cromwells that were manned and capable of replying had little effect. Some managed to score direct hits  on the Tiger but their low-velocity 75mm guns made no impression. With Villers-Bocage lost so soon after being won, the advance came to a halt. British forces withdrew into defensive positions as their attempt to break the deadlock in Normandy failed humiliatingly. It was a devastating blow to morale. But the most unsettling aspect of the lost battle was the inability of the Cromwell to knock out a Tiger tank, even at point-blank range. The British tank was fast going forwards and had a low profile, but its flat front left it vulnerable and it had an ineffective gun. The 88mm gun on the German Tigers could pick off Allied tanks before they were able to get within range. British generals were well aware of its ‘design fault’, though Montgomery tried to stamp out any idea of tank inferiority for fear of his men developing ‘a Tiger complex’. Yet he himself had criticised the Cromwell the previous August, when he complained: ‘We are outshot by the German tanks.’ To try to suppress the problem nearly a year later was flying in the face of reality. The diary of a British officer found in a shot-up Cromwell posed the pertinent question. Its penultimate entry on June 11 read: ‘After four years of preparation for the invasion, why are our machines inferior?’ On June 12, Churchill boarded a destroyer at Portsmouth to pay a prime-ministerial visit to Normandy. He came ashore in an amphibious craft, right up onto the beach, and was then driven to Army headquarters in the Chateau de Creully. His trip took him through countryside which had escaped destruction. ‘We are surrounded by fat cattle lying in luscious pastures with their paws crossed,’ he purred. His companion, Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke,  noted, however, that ‘the French population did not seem in any way pleased to see us.’ Which was hardly surprising, given the terrible destruction being meted out to large swathes of Normandy. Caen continued to suffer abominably from bombs and shelling. Rats grew fat on the corpses buried underground and stray dogs searched for an arm or leg sticking out of the rubble. ‘I simply cannot look at any more blood,’ a surgeon in the hospital was heard to say, so weary he had no idea what day it was. Even for those French now behind Allied lines, life was hard. The invading soldiers had distributed chocolate, sweets and cigarettes, but there was no electricity or water, except from wells. For food, most survived off their market gardens. Often the sweets and cigarettes were not given but bartered for milk, eggs and meat from fallen livestock. This trading extended to other commodities with astonishing rapidity. Allied military police raided a brothel set up on a beach in a wrecked landing craft by three ladies on the evening of  D-Day and confiscated the army-issue chocolate, sweets and cigarettes they had amassed in ‘currency’. Meanwhile, the very worst was happening for the Allies in terms of getting the job done. Everywhere, instead of pushing forward, the front line was coagulating as troops who should have been aggressively on the move dug in. ‘Musical chairs with gunfire and slit trenches’ was how one lieutenant described his life at this point. Trench warfare and the quite arbitrary chance of death which went with it led to numerous superstitions. Few dared fate by saying that they would do this or that ‘when I get home’. A medal was all very well, but they preferred somebody else to play the role of hero, ‘winning the war single-handed’. Most just wanted to return home alive. Here was a telling point. It was primarily a conscript army that was thrown into the battle for Normandy, against a German military that was far more professional, mainly as a result of their training system, their experience on the Russian front and their doctrine of Auftragstaktik. This was a commander’s obligation to achieve an objective on his own initiative rather than stick blindly to orders, and it gave them a much greater flexibility. The Germans were also deeply influenced by the idea promoted through propaganda that they were fighting to defend their country from annihilation, while the Americans and British just wanted to get the war over with and go home. ‘The Germans are staying in there just by the guts of their soldiers,’ an American general observed. ‘We outnumber them ten to 1 in infantry, 50  to 1 in artillery and an infinite number in the air.’ He wanted his officers to convince their men ‘that we have got to fight for our country just as hard as the Germans are fighting for theirs’. But he was fighting an uphill battle. +4 American troops injured while storming Omaha Beach: American and Canadian observers were amazed by the British expectation of regular tea and smoke breaks - even just after reaching the beaches on D-Day In conscript armies such as the British and American, it was not possible to exert the same sort of pitiless discipline to overcome fear as the Nazi regime used. The average citizen from a western democracy could not be expected to fight in the same way as a member of the Wehrmacht or the Red Army, let alone an SS officer or a member of the Hitler Youth. But the difference this made was crucial. Americans, Britons and Canadians did not regard it as shameful to give up after a certain level of suffering or hopelessness was reached. Phrases like ‘Fight to the last man!’ were seen as rhetorical, not literal. And we should be thankful that was the case. We would be most uneasy today if they had fought in Normandy in the same way as the brutal and feared Waffen-SS. But there were also systemic flaws in the British Army that affected how it performed in that immediate post- D-Day period. Many private soldiers and NCOs had been marked by social and political tensions of the inter-war years and become far more politicised than their fathers, the generation that fought World War I. Sometimes a trade-union mentality influenced attitudes of what could be expected of them. American and Canadian observers were amazed by the British soldier’s expectation of regular tea and smoke breaks. Sometimes a trade-union mentality influenced attitudes of what could be expected of them. American and Canadian observers were amazed by the British soldier’s expectation of regular tea and smoke breaks. On D-Day itself, an astonishing number felt tired after wading ashore and believed there was time for a cigarette and even a brew up instead of getting on with the task of  knocking out the enemy defences and pushing inland. Another British failing came from a demarcation mentality, of not doing anything that was not strictly your job. A Canadian observed that  sappers did not believe it was their task to fire at the enemy when not engaged on an engineering task, and infantry refused to help fill a crater or get a vehicle out of difficulties. There was little of that attitude in either the German or the American army. The Germans also believed that the British were very brave in defence, but often over-cautious in attack. One reason may be that British military myths always focused on heroic defence — at Corunna, Waterloo, Lucknow and Rorke’s Drift. Glorification of attack was much rarer. Then again, it must also be remembered that in 1944 Britain had been at war for nearly five years, so there was considerable war-weariness. And, as the end came in sight, men wanted to survive. They became reluctant to take risks, especially those who had fought in North Africa and Italy. All this contributed to the situation the Allied armies found themselves in after fighting their way ashore in Normandy 70 years ago and facing an enemy dug in and determined to try to stop them in their tracks. Now, with two weeks gone since the first landings and progress flagging, even the weather — that had relented like a godsend to make D-Day possible — turned against Allies. On June 19, the most violent storm for 40 years blew up in the Channel. Gale force winds along the coast were, in the Norman saying, enough ‘to take the horns off a cow’, while temperatures felt like a cold November. Locals had never seen anything like it. Landing craft were hurled by the waves high on to the beaches, smashing against each other. One Mulberry artificial port was destroyed beyond repair. When the storm subsided on June  22, the destruction on the beaches defied belief. More ships and material had been lost than during the invasion itself. It badly affected reinforcements and supplies. Many Allied divisions ready to cross to France were delayed by a week, as were shipments of artillery ammunition. It also forced the cancellation of Allied air operations, which allowed the Germans to accelerate their own reinforcement of the Normandy front. Yet those involved in the planning of D-Day could not help remembering with grateful relief the decision to go ahead on June 6. If the invasion had been postponed for two weeks, as had been a possibility at the time, the fleet would have sailed into one of the worst storms in Channel history. Fortune had been on the Allies’ side then — and it was about to be again when, from a distance, Hitler decided he knew better than his generals how to eject the Allies from Normandy.

Skies above Normandy filled with 1,000 paratroopers in culmination of 70th anniversary D-day commemorations Thousands gather at Sainte-Mere-Eglise to observe aerial drop of 1,000 paratroopers - reenacting their assault on the French town hours before D-Day armada launched Veterans of the attack flew in restored C-47 US military transport plane that dropped American, British and Canadian troops over Normandy Final commemoration of 70th anniversary of D-Day which launched on June 6, 1944 to liberate Western Europe Nearly 1,000 paratroopers dropped out of the sky in Normandy on Sunday - but this time they did so in peace, instead of to wrest western France from the Nazis as they did during World War II. Drawing huge crowds who braved hot weather and lined the historic landing area at La Fiere, the aerial spectacle re-enacted the drama of the Normandy landings and served to cap commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day. Among the planes ferrying paratroopers for the event was a restored C-47 US military transport plane that dropped Allied troops on the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise - a stone's throw from La Fiere - on June 6, 1944. +14 Skies filled: Paratroopers are dropped near the Normandy village of Sainte Mere Eglise, western France, during a mass air drop, on Sunday June 8, 2014, as part of commemorations of the 70 anniversary of the D-Day landing And the pilots who originally flew it took the controls again last week, 70 years later, remembering their experiences. Sunday saw dozens of veterans escorted down a sandy path to a special section to watch the show alongside thousands of spectators - most of whom lined two sides of the field. Others took shelter in the shade as the lack of wind caused the sun to beat down hard. +14 Reenactment: A paratrooper parachuting from a plane in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, northern France, during a D-Day commemoration event marking the 70th anniversary of the World War II Allied landings in Normandy +14 +14 Historic: A French soldier walks in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, northern France, during a D-Day commemoration with paratroopers to mark the 70th anniversary of the World War II Allied landings in Normandy +14 Musical: An US orchestra conductor is seen on June 8, 2014 as paratroopers parachuting from a plane in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, northern France, during a D-Day commemoration event marking the 70th anniversary of the World War II Allied landings in Normandy +14 Away: AParatroopers parachuting from a plane in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, northern France on Sunday at the culmination of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day celebrations +14 Mark of respect: The paratroopers float towards the ground after leaping out of the American plane over the French town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise in Normandy on Sunday +14 +14 Safe jump: Paratroopers prepare to land near the Normandy village of Sainte Mere Eglise, western France, during a mass air drop, Sunday June 8, 2014, as part of commemorations of the 70 anniversary of the D-Day landing +14 Display: Paratroopers watched by the crowd, prepare to land near the Normandy village of Sainte Mere Eglise, western France Planes including the C-47 aircraft flew by loudly overhead several times, with two dozen military paratroopers - from countries including the U.S., Britain, France and Germany - jumping with each passage. They were scenes reminiscent of the pivotal event, when around 15,000 Allied paratroopers were dropped in and around the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise on D-Day. It became the first to be liberated by the Allies and remains one of the enduring symbols of the Normandy invasion. Veteran Julian 'Bud' Rice, a C-47 pilot who participated in the airdrops of Normandy on D-Day, watched the show. 'It's good to see 800 paratroopers jump here today, but the night that we came in, we had 800 airplanes with 10,000 paratroopers that we dropped that night, so it was a little more,' he said. +14 Drawing huge crowds who braved hot weather and lined the historic landing area at La Fiere, the aerial spectacle re-enacted the drama of the Normandy landings and served to cap commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day +14 Reconciliation: World War II German veteran Kurt Keller, right, of Homburg, Germany, 89, who fought against the Allied landing on Omaha Beach on the 6 June 1944, speaks with World War II Dutch resistance and veteran Adriaan de Winter, 87, of Milsbeek, from the Netherlands, who fought the Nazis, in Belgium and Netherlands, during a remembrance ceremony at the German cemetery of La Cambe, France, Sunday, June 8, 2014, as part of D-Day commemorations +14 +14 Remarkable: World War II German veteran Kurt Keller, right, of Homburg, Germany, 89, who fought against the Allied landing on Omaha Beach on the 6 June 1944, holds the hand of World War II Dutch resistance and veteran Adriaan de Winter, 87, of Milsbeek, the Netherlands Rice flew in a C-47 aircraft earlier in the week, similar to the one he flew on D-Day. With him was veteran pilot Bill Prindible, with whom he watched the show. 'Very impressive,' Prindible said. 'You just have to imagine there'd be a squadron of 72 aircraft, 36 aircraft going by every time one of those guys went by.' At the invitation of the French government, this restored Douglas C-47 - known as Whiskey 7 - flew for the festivities and released paratroopers as it did when it dropped troops behind enemy lines under German fire. The plane has almost as a rich a story to tell as the pilots who flew it. Although the twin-prop Whiskey 7, so named because of its W-7 squadron marking, looks much the same today as it did on June 6, 1944. It looked very different when it arrived at the National Warplane Museum in western New York as a donation eight years ago. It had been converted to a corporate passenger plane. The museum's president said that for its restoration they had to take out the interior because it then had a dry bar, lounge seats and a table with a map of the Bahamas. And it has moved with the times - now sporting two GPS systems to keep the aircraft on course.