Historic D-Day Tapes From Inside A Landing Vessel Accidentally Found In A Dusty Basement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnomrhP6sVs&feature=emb_title
It’s not every day that you accidentally come across an illuminating historical artifact, but that’s exactly what happened to Florida researcher Bruce Campbell, who found a collection of original audio tapes from the 1944 battle of D-Day accumulating dust in the basement of his cabin on Long Island.
One tape in particular is an incredible recording made by radio reporter George Hicks from a ship off the coast of Normandy. In it, the war correspondent can be heard shouting above the sounds of aircraft flying above him.
“Here we go again. Another plane’s come over!” Hicks yelled as anti-aircraft fire erupted in the background. “Right over our port side. Tracers are making an arc right over our bow now… Looks like we’re going to have a night tonight. Give it to them, boys!”
The stunning record is just one of a 16-tape collection Campbell found years after he bought his cabin in 1994. At first, Campbell didn’t think much of the random tapes until 15 years later, when an English electrical engineer and antique audio machinery expert made him realize the true weight of his possession.
The audio recordings have long been available to the public, but Campbell kept the master tapes himself. It wasn’t until this past October that he finally donated the tapes to the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia.
Among the tapes are recordings from Edward R. Murrow and other notable World War II journalists. Campbell also donated a vintage tape recorder used to capture some of these moments.
“We are absolutely overwhelmed and delighted… It’s truly a window into not only one of the most important events of the last century, but also in real time [to] hear what it was like,” the memorial foundation’s President April Cheek-Messier said of the new addition to the museum’s collection.
“To me, it’s one of the most important broadcasts anyone has ever heard.”
