Last week marked the 75th anniversary of the turning point in World War II, known as the D-Day landings or the invasion of Normandy by mainly British and American troops. They were trying to re-take Nazi-occupied France and push the enemy forces back to Germany.
In today’s visit to the sound archives of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Sarah Johnston is going to take us back to how New Zealand radio listeners heard about this momentous event – and the part Kiwis were playing in it.
American correspondent Bill Downs was in Normandy, 75 years ago this week, reporting on progress on the invasion of France by the Allies. The text script for his live broadcast to the United States from Normandy on June 14, 1944 is here
Johnston says there weren’t many Kiwis that took part in the ground landings, but there were around 10,000 Kiwis involved because they were serving in the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force.
She says the quickest way to get news about what was happening in the war was through radio. People could tune into the BBC or listen to the New Zealand National Broadcasting Service, the forerunner to RNZ, which kept a 24-hour listening watch on developments.
“A staff member had to sit there listening to the BBC and some of the American networks and record any overseas broadcasts that they heard that were important or of special New Zealand interest.”
The recordings are from shortwave, which Johnston explains makes them a “bit crackly”.
She says the first recording New Zealanders heard was from an American broadcaster, George Hicks, who was reporting from on-board of one of the thousands of landing craft.
After the Allies landed, there were no live reports from the scene for about a week. Johnston explains that the correspondents had trouble getting their hands on a mobile radio transmitter that had a good enough signal to be picked up.
One of them mentioned in the final dispatch was a Maori pilot, M.A Milich, from Kaitaia who won the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions in the Normandy invasion. Sadly, he died in action in 1944.
