Insight

Tracking down the last veterans of D-Day: An ITV News Meridian project telling their stories

Some of the 'Last Veterans' who were interviewed for this special project. Credit: ITV News Meridian

ITV News Meridian has interviewed more than 80 veterans up and down the country as part of our coverage of the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Led by our reporter Derek Johnson, he and camera operator Siobhan Hart, worked tirelessly to capture the stories of those involved in D-Day, to ensure they are never forgotten. You can find all of them on this special ITV News website.

For 15 years, Derek and Shiv have been travelling to the beaches, memorials and cemeteries of Normandy for ITV News Meridian.

Both have covered events commemorating D-Day, the Allied invasion of occupied Europe in 1944 in which 156,000 troops crossed the English Channel by air and sea in a single day and landed in France.

Siobhan Hart filming with a veteran to ensure his story is never forgotten. Credit: ITV Meridian

To mark 80 years, Shiv wanted to go further than ITV News Meridian has ever gone before, and, with the help of colleagues Kate Taylor and Sandor Taylor, tracked down more than 80 veterans, some of whom had never before told their stories.

The idea was to ensure that their stories would be told 'in full', not cut down to fit into a 30-minute programme.

This coincided with the launch of ITV's streaming platform, ITVX, which allows regional news teams to publish long-form, bespoke journalism, making it all possible.

For more than a year Derek and Shiv have given up their own time to make this project possible, and it has all been skilfully edited by ITV News Meridian's James Tee, who volunteered to take on the enormous task.

Derek Johnson and Siobhan Hart speaking to veteran Marie Scott. Credit: ITV Meridian

Why now?

The living link to D-Day and the Normandy Landings is fast disappearing. To be a veteran, you have to be at least in your late 90s, and many are now too frail to receive visitors or speak at length or at all about their experiences.

Derek and Shiv knew that they were the among the last ones who could record the memories of those who fought in World War Two, and set out to find what they thought would be a handful of veterans.

They were wrong about that. In the year from June 2023, they tracked down veteran after veteran, and not just the ones on the front lines.

ITV News Meridian found men who were in combat and women who drove the invasion forward. They were found via the many groups and charities dedicated to helping them in their twilight years.

Derek Johnson with veteran Ken Cooke. Credit: ITV Meridian

More were then found through word of mouth, interested parties and by trawling through websites and online articles.

Derek and Shiv visited care homes, their own homes, museums, regimental clubs, military shows and even an aircraft hangar. In the process, they talked to some extraordinary people.

ITV News Meridian asked one veteran, Marie Scott, to take us around the tunnels she worked in during the war, and she said yes.

It meant, for the first time in Meridian's history, we went down into the 80-year-old tunnels, just outside of Portsmouth, from where the D-Day operation was coordinated.

Derek Johnson, Siobhan Hart and Harry Acton inside the Southwick Tunnels just outside of Portsmouth with Marie Scott and Martin Bazeley. Credit: ITV Meridian

The history there captured along with Marie's memories and experiences, and it was only the second time she had gone back since the war herself.

Marie was one of the many veterans with whom Derek and Shiv built a connection during the project, their passion making it all possible.

Shiv and Derek haven't stopped throughout this project and never said no to any veteran they found. In the end, they weren't able to keep every single word from every single veteran. Some people understandably did not tell their stories from start to finish, diverted and digressed and focused on some episodes rather than others.

So they have been edited down and they each run from a few minutes to more than half an hour. The only voices you hear are those of the veterans.

They are available on a dedicated ITV website, where they will remain long after that living link disappears.

It is not military history. Not a story about ranks and regiments, tactics, strategy and weaponry.

It is the testimony of people who lived through extraordinary times, did their duty, and somehow came out the other side.

Soon along with museums, artefacts and historic sites, the stories collected by Derek and Shiv will be all that we have left, but their efforts mean they will never be forgotten.


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