BÉNOUVILLE
FILM TESTIMONY BY MAJOR HOWARD
To mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, this animated film completes the recording of Major Howard's testimony.
This film aims to provide a better understanding, mainly for young audiences, of the events that took place during the night of 5 to 6 June 1944 on the site of Pegasus Bridge.
To mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, this animated film completes the recording of Major Howard's testimony.
This film aims to provide a better understanding, mainly for young audiences, of the events that took place during the night of 5 to 6 June 1944 on the site of Pegasus Bridge.
LETTER FROM PENNY HOWARD BATES,
ABOUT THIS FILM, 18 MAY 2024:
Dear Rémy,
Thank you for sending us the short film you have made to accompany my father’s speech.
This recording was made in 1989 down on the Landing Zone. It was made by his Dutch friend and you have made it much clearer, than you.
I was present at several of my father’s talks to his men on 5/6 June. It was very different then – completely dark except for the hand-held torches that his men, gathered around him and the stelea that marked the site that Glider 1 landed that was there at that time. We had all been for a group dinner at the floating restaurant that was then on the canal ‘La Peniche’, and walked back up the bank to the Landing Zone for midnight.
His men would join in laughing and teasing my father as he spoke – in fact you can hear the Glider Pilot Jim Wallwork clearly when my father talked about ‘a perfect landing’. They became close friends after the war. The Gondree family would bring champagne and glasses over in a large basket for the ‘am and Jam’ toast. That was the success signal – Ham for the canal bridge, Jam for the Orne river bridge. I recall those years as special memories.
Your film is very good and it is a pleasure for me to endorse it.
Thank you again Rémy,
Penny Howard Bates
PASSING ON THE MEMORY
The events of the Second World War, and more specifically those of the Battle of Normandy, remain a highly representative figure in the educational and personal approach to history in France and internationally.
At a time when the last representatives of this living memory (veterans and civilians) are about to disappear, passing on the memory of this conflict to younger generations is a key factor in perpetuating it.
This animated film content, like a cartoon-style documentary, is aimed particularly at younger generations, to make it easier for them to understand events and testimonies from the past through a graphic context within their reach, without losing the appeal of a wider audience.
The historical veracity of this content is based firstly on the elements specific to Major Howard's testimony, and secondly on a technical file specific to the historical facts and the construction plans for the Horsa glider.
MARKING THE 80th ANNIVERSARY
This animated film, shown during the Franco-British ceremonies on 5 and 6 June 2024 in Bénouville, has been awarded two 80th Anniversary labels: one from the French government (via the Ministry of the Armed Forces) and the other from the Normandy Region.
