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HISTORY
The Time of My Life
 
East End of London: 1910s and 1920s
West Yorkshire Mill Towns: 1930s
Belfast: 1930s
Fraserbrugh during World War 2
The D-Day Landings: 1944
Programme Outline
Activities
Transcript
Tiger Bay, Cardiff: 1950s
Rural Dorset after World War 2
Migration to Bradford: 1960s
Liverpool: 1960s and 1970s
The Protest Generation in London: 1970s
Credits
Aims and Learning Outcomes
Teacher Notes
TV Transmissions
Curriculum Relevance
Feedback
Print Version

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The D-Day Landings: 1944

Activities

Activity 1

Note making

Take notes on the programme in a table like the one below.

What do you find out about Jessica and Ken?

What do you think about them?

What does Ken tell us about the D-Day landings — the aims, preparations, and events?

Activity 2

Making sense of the information

Ken had to make a number of choices. Why do you think he did what he did? Would you have chosen the same course?

Ken’s choices:

  • Ken decided to join the Royal Navy at the age of 15 without telling his parents.
  • Ken helped injured soldiers back onto the landing craft even though his orders said he should leave any casualties on the beach.
  • Ken decided not to return to Omaha Beach with other soldiers, but instead to talk to a 15-year-old girl about his thoughts and feelings.

Activity 3

Research

These web links will help you find out more about the things Ken told Jessica:

http://www.dday.org/

http://www.nando.net/sproject/dday/dday.html

Write an imaginary letter from a soldier who landed on Omaha Beach, to his family in the US. Focus on the feelings of the soldier and the things he would have seen.

Activity 4

Life stories

Talk to an older relative or friend who can remember the Second World War, or talk to someone about the things you have heard in the programme and ask them about their thoughts and feelings about the way young men were asked to risk their lives on the Normandy beaches.