The launch of the 80 objects in 80 days project went live online on Monday, March 18, 2024.
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00:00 Tell me about this project.
00:02 So the project is called D-Day in 80 Objects and it's been created because we want to make the story of D-Day as accessible as possible to as many people as possible and especially the younger generation.
00:14 And what objects are here that people can visit?
00:18 So the project is, the entirety of the project is online, so it's a partnership between the D-Day story, the Imperial War Museum, the National Army Museum, the Royal Air Force Museum and the National Museum of the Royal Navy.
00:32 But here at the D-Day story we have around 30 of the objects.
00:35 So the objects that people can come to D-Day story and visit are for example the LCT 7074, we have Betty White's coat and we also have Shirley Whittle's flag and Bertie the ventriloquist's dummy are just some of the examples of the range of objects that we've selected.
00:52 And what was the motivation for this project?
00:55 In this year of D-Day 80 we just want to make sure that the stories are kept alive as things pass from living memory it's really important that we do find different ways of sharing the stories of D-Day and I think that's one of the major things veterans have asked us to do is to keep those stories alive.
01:15 Thank you.
01:16 What have you been learning about the D-Day?
01:21 We've been learning about all the different artefacts like the flag and the doll and the coat.
01:29 Mostly been learning about the flag because some people from the D-Day costume library came in and was telling us about it and we got to hold some stuff, I can't remember what it was but can you remember?
01:46 Was it the bomb?
01:47 Yeah the bomb.
01:48 Yeah we got to hold a bomb.
01:49 An active bomb.
01:51 Yeah and we went to the D-Day costume, so in costume there was a D-Day exhibition where you got to put on like helmets and stuff it was really cool.
02:03 And it had like a map and it had different things.
02:07 And what do you think of the objects that you've been down?
02:12 I personally think that they're really cool because it's crazy how long they've survived, they've not been shot and it's really cool.
02:20 I think it looks so old but it looks like the flag looks like it's been stitched up and from like bomb bullets and stuff and the coat has so many different badges and the other team just has like, it has all the medals and everything and I think it just looks really nice.
02:45 And what do the objects mean to you?
02:47 To me, I think they mean, they're quite special to me and some other people, like most other people because it's really cool to know that we're able to come here and see these nice Cornwall objects because not many people would have the chance to do this.
03:06 I think it's quite cool to me because most people have family members that were in the wars and stuff and it's really nice to know that families have been sharing their stories and stuff with all their little artefacts and everything.
03:29 And what's the council's view on this project?
03:33 The council's so excited about this project, I mean obviously it's great that Portsmouth is the focus of the national commemorations but more importantly, here at the D-Day Museum, we've been able to do a collaboration with the Imperial War Museum around this D-Day in 80 objects exhibition.
03:51 And why is it important for Portsmouth?
03:53 I think it's important, it's about continuing history and continuing the story. So the great thing about the exhibition is it's obviously available online for the whole country but more specifically in Portsmouth it's about recognising local people and local contacts.
04:08 These are the shores where young men and boys went off on the operation and actually what we want is we want people to be able to remember that story, sometimes it's their families but more importantly we want children to get here.
04:25 So we're aiming to try and get 10,000 local children to actually come and see the exhibition and still looking for sponsorship if anyone's interested it's on the website.
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