June 6, 2014 News

70th Anniversary of D Day

The 70th anniversary of Operation Overlord and the D Day landings has been a particularly significant anniversary on account of it being the last year when the Normandy Veterans Association will take part; the Association is to be disbanded at the end of this year due to the falling number of members. As the number of veterans dwindles so the interest in their incredible achievements rises. The significance of D Day as the event that turned the tide of the 2nd World War is now widely appreciated; without it Europe today would be a very different place.

The success of Operation Overlord depended upon the supply of tanks, ammunition, fuel, food and equipment in the immediate aftermath of the D Day landings; with all the French ports in German hands and well defended this supply operation relied upon the two artificial harbours, Mulberry A and B. The remains of these harbours still exist although only Mulberry B at Arromanches-sur-Mer is still visible above the water. In view of the historical significance of these remains the French government has applied to UNESCO for the Normandy landing beaches to be designated a World Heritage Site, the tentative listing can be seen at unesco.org.

Tim Beckett joined Dassault Systemes for the European press launch of the TV programme in Paris and also the American launch in Boston. The photo shows Tim, third from the left, with the presentation team, all still wearing their 3D glasses, in WGBH’s Boston studio. The 3D virtual Mulberry harbour was well received, some of the press reviews can be seen at:To support the Landing Beaches application an extensive underwater survey was carried out to identify all the submerged remains present off the beaches. Additionally a 3D virtual Mulberry B harbour has been created by the French technology company Dassault Systemes. Realising that they needed access to original fabrication drawings for this project Dassualt Systemes approached Tim Beckett in early 2013 for help in locating the Mulberry archives. The story of that archive search and the creation of the 3D virtual Mulberry, together with the underwater explorations, was made into a documentary TV programme called ‘D-Day’s Sunken Secrets’. The film was a joint French and American project but has been screened in over 20 countries; in the UK it was shown in a shortened version on Channel 5 on 19 May and can be viewed online at channel5.com.
In America WGBH screened the full length version on their Nova programme, American readers can view it at pbs.org.

For the anniversary of D Day the Beckett family made a visit to Normandy. While there they had a most enjoyable meeting with Les Amis du Pont Bailey who, as well as owning a Mark 1 Bailey bridge also own a Whale floating roadway bridge span which was designed by Allan Beckett. While the group has saved the Whale from destruction it still requires a permanent home to secure its future and to this purpose the Becketts were made honorary members of Les Amis du Pont Bailey! The photo shows from left to right Elaine Beckett, Ida Beckett, Christopher Long (past President), Tim Beckett, Simon de Lautour (President), Dr Mike Beckett and Sarah Long at Pont Farcy. The Whale bridge has its own website at christopherlong.co.uk

After the meeting a visit was made to the Whale bridge span which is disassembled at a site near Carentan; the photo shows Mike, Tim, Ida and Elaine Beckett with the bridge. Although in pieces and in need of paint the bridge is in remarkably good condition and would make an ideal, if rather large, exhibit at a suitable museum.

On 6th June the Beckett family attended the memorial service in Arromanches with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The final photo shows Jacob, Felicity and Anna Beckett with their grandfather Allan Beckett’s memorial in Arromanches. The memorial features a full sized replica of the Kite anchor which he designed to moor the Whale roadways in place.

As part of Beckett Rankine’s contribution to the 70th Anniversary commemorations we have scanned some of the archive material we hold relating to Sir Bruce White’s work on overseeing the development of the Mulberry Harbours. This material can be found on our Mulberry Harbour website. Perhaps the most interesting items in this collection are the minutes of the technical meetings held over the summer of 1943 which were chaired by Sir Bruce’s brother Colin White. The meetings consider where the artificial harbours should be located, their size and the nature of their breakwaters. The minutes are in the ‘Documents’ section in a file called ‘Artificial Harbours & Compressed Air Breakwaters’.