Rare color footage brings D-Day memories alive, 75 years on
By Jeffrey Schaeffer, The Associated Press and Julian Styles, The Associated Press
Landing craft on the beach during D-Day on June 6, 1944 in France. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
WASHINGTON — Seventy-five years ago, Hollywood director George Stevens stood on the deck of the HMS Belfast to film the start of the D-Day invasion.
The resulting black-and-white films — following Allied troops through Normandy, the liberation of Paris, Battle of the Bulge, the horror of the Dachau concentration camp — form the basis of Americans' historical memory of World War II, and were even used as evidence in Nazi war crimes trials.
But the director was also shooting 16-millimeter color film for himself of the same events, creating a kind of personal video journal of his experiences.
As veterans and world leaders prepare to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day next week, Stevens’ surprising color images bring an immediacy to wartime memories, a powerful reminder of the war’s impact and its heros as those who witnessed the war are dying out.
"You've seen it in black and white. And when you see it in color, all of a sudden it feels like today," his son George Stevens Jr. said in an interview. "It doesn't seem like yesterday. And it has a much more modern and authentic feeling to it."
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View from a ship on D-Day off the coast of France on June 6, 1944. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
Hollywood director George Stevens looks through a camera on a ship off the coast of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Stevens was assigned to to head up the combat motion-picture coverage, but he was also using 16-millimeter color film for himself of the same events, creating a kind of personal video journal of his experiences. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
Ships and blimps sit off the coast of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
Empty shells on the deck of a ship off the coast of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
Hollywood director George Stevens stands on a ship off the coast of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
Landing craft on the beach during D-Day on June 6, 1944 in France. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
U.S. troops drive through a town during World War II in France. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
U.S. troops drive through a town by a sign for the Hotel du Lion during World War II in France. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
Soldiers sit on a tank holding a sign about a mine field during World War II in France on June 6, 1944. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
French women smile at U.S. soldiers after the liberation of Paris. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
A French girl holding a weapon watches U.S. troops drive past after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
French women cheer U.S. soldiers after the liberation of Paris in 1944 during World War II. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
U.S. soldiers in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background during World War II after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
U.S. military vehicles and soldiers march down the Champs-Elysees after the liberation of Paris. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
U.S. Army Gen. George Patton, left, with a pearl-handled pistol, talks to British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, center right with the beret hat, and other British officers in France during World War II. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
Charles de Gaulle, arrives for a military parade down the Champs-Elysees after the liberation of Paris. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower attends a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in Paris. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
Gen. Phillippe Leclerc, foreground second right, stands with a captured German officer, left, after the liberation of Paris in 1944 during World War II. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
Hollywood director George Stevens, center, talks after a military parade in Paris. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
U.S. Gen. Omar Bradley salutes as Charles de Gaulle, background left, speaks before for a military parade down the Champs-Elysees after the liberation of Paris. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
Charles de Gaulle, right, speaks to a French citizen, center, and another French officer after the liberation of Paris in 1944 during World War II. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
A German officer is escorted by U.S. soldiers after the liberation of Paris in 1944. Seventy-five years later, surprising color images of the D-Day invasion and aftermath bring an immediacy to wartime memories. They were filmed by Hollywood director George Stevens and rediscovered years after his death. (War Footage From the George Stevens Collection at the Library of Congress via AP)
Next week's D-Day commemorations are about honoring the thousands killed and wounded on June 6, 1944 — and people like Stevens Jr.'s father.
Then 37, Stevens was already a famous American director who had made Hollywood classics like "Gunga Din" and "Swing Time."
"My father was beyond draft age. And he had a dependent child. So there was no chance of him being called up," Stevens Jr., a filmmaker in his own right, told The Associated Press. But his father felt compelled to enlist in the U.S. military after seeing the power of Nazi propaganda films including Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will."
"The next day he started calling up to find out how he could get into the service. He couldn't sit on the sidelines in Hollywood, and wanted to make his contribution," his son said.
With fewer veterans and witnesses able to share personal memories, the French who owe their freedom to D-Day's fighters are more determined than ever to keep alive the memory of the battle and its significance.
Gen. Dwight Eisenhower assigned Stevens to head up the combat motion-picture coverage. From D-Day on, Stevens and his team stormed through France and across Europe following U.S. forces.
George Stevens Jr., now 87, was a child when his dad left to cover the war. Only after his father's death, decades later, did he discover reels of the color film in storage.
They could have been anything — his father used the same camera during the war that he had used to film his son's birthday parties.
But what his son found that day in 1980 was no normal home video.
"I was sitting alone, and on the screen came images of a gray day and rough seas and a large ship and barrage balloons up in the sky. And I realized it was D-Day.
"And I realized that my eyes were probably the first other than those who were there to see this in color," he recalled. "I'm watching this footage and seeing the men on the ship ... and around the corner walks into the frame a man with a helmet and a flak jacket. It's my 37-year-old father on the morning of D-Day."
Stevens Jr., a writer, director and founder of the American Film Institute, later made a documentary with the footage, "George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin."
"My father referred to his experience in World War II as having a seat on the 50-yard line. And seeing men at their best and at their worst," his son said.
In this image from video, George Stevens Jr. speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Washington. George Stevens Jr., now 87, was a child when his Dad left to cover the war. Only after his father’s death, decades later, did he discover reels of the color film in storage. “I was sitting alone, and on the screen came images of a gray day and rough seas and a large ship and barrage balloons up in the sky. And I realized it was D-Day. (AP Photo)
Long before social networks and smart phones, the outside world had little visual evidence of the Nazis' attempted genocide of the Jews.
His father's unit "went into Dachau, the concentration camp, and nobody had anticipated what they were going to find there," Stevens Jr. said. "It was this harrowing sight of these emaciated prisoners and typhus and disease and dead bodies stacked like cordwood. ... Rather than just being a recorder of events, he became a gatherer of evidence, and he himself took a camera and went into these boxcars, with snow on the ground, with frozen bodies."
One more funeral, one less witness to the world’s worst war.
By Angela Charlton, The Associated Press
Stevens documented the scenes both in black and white and in color, and images he shot at Dachau were among those shown at the Nuremberg war crimes trials, according to his son.
He also filmed Allied war generals working together during the war to defeat fascism. Now, 75 years on, the trans-Atlantic alliance is fraying and Europe's extreme right is resurging, making remembrance of the war especially important.
"I think that common interests and purpose will keep us together," Stevens Jr. said. He praised the U.S.-led postwar effort "to embrace the defeated and help them, help Germany become a great nation," calling it a "very American idea ... that will serve us far into the future."
U.S. enlisted airmen must be comfortable working alongside allied and partner nations in case a conflict with China erupts, the CMSAF David Flosi said.
"It flies like a dream," ACC head Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach said of the new EA-37B Compass Call, a heavily adapted Gulfstream jet that will replace the EC-130.
NPR reported that a cemetery official tried to prevent Trump staffers from filming in Section 60, but the individual was verbally abused and shoved aside.