Columbus, Georgia – July 3, 2012: The National Infantry Museum Foundation (NIMF) and Livingbattlefield (LB) Productions have announced a joint educational initiative — Operation Ignite — that aims to teach the nation’s youth about the D-Day landing in World War II, and the crucial role of American troops who fought against the Nazis that day on the beaches of Normandy in northern France.
More than 156,000 Allied troops invaded Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944. Supported by about 7,000 ships and nearly 12,000 aircraft; it remains the largest amphibious landing in military history and marked the beginning of the end for Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich.
Ben Williams, NIF president, said Operation Ignite could make a real impact in high schools and middle schools throughout America. “We need to make sure our younger generation knows what happened on D-Day, and remembers it for the rest of their lives,” Williams said. “That’s what makes this program so valuable. It is a lesson too important to forget.”
“When we think of D-Day, we need to bear in mind that American troops suffered nearly 7,000 casualties on that single day alone, including 2,500 who were killed by the enemy,” said Richard Lanni, director of the LB Productions documentary, The Americans on D-Day. “Many of thesesoldiers weren’t much older than high school students when they fell in combat.”
A key component of Operation Ignite is the 60-minute program, The Americans on D-Day, which has aired in 90 percent of the public television market and received outstanding reviews.
Lanni said the program’s unique “battlefield tour” format makes it a very effective teaching tool. Not only does the program use high-quality animation and re-enactment footage, the viewers are led across the actual battlefields by military historian Ellwood von Seibold, who wears World War II uniforms and rides in a 1943 Dodge command car. He is also an honorary captain in the U.S. Army.
“Ellwood is one of the world’s leading experts on the D-Day invasion, and he tells some harrowing tales about what our troops went through to win at Normandy,” Lanni said. “But he is also very entertaining as he jumps into foxholes, or hides from enemy tanks behind a tree. And he wears a variety of uniforms throughout the program. We really think students are going to like Ellwood, and the way he makes the battle come alive. This is no ordinary history lesson.”
The documentary will be supported by a lesson plan developed by Doug Barber, who teaches history at the Centerville City Schools in Ohio. The plan breaks down the D-Day experience into segments: planning and logistics, airborne assault, seaborne invasion, and consequences and conclusions.
One segment of the lesson plan will focus on the desperate fighting at Pointe du Hoc, where Army Rangers had to scale a cliff to fight German defenders at the top. The scene is depicted on the National Infantry Museum’s signature attraction, the Last 100 Yards.
The project is seeking patriotic American businesses, corporations and civic groups to support Operation Ignite. For more information, contact Richard Lanni at richard@livingbattlefield.org.
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