Lost in Light » Military http://lostinlight.org small gauge filmmaking videoblog Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:45:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Oradour-Sur-Glane http://lostinlight.org/2008/03/29/oradour-sur-glane/ http://lostinlight.org/2008/03/29/oradour-sur-glane/#comments Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:07:28 +0000 Jen http://lostinlight.org/2008/03/29/oradour-sur-glane/
click image to view in Flash | Quicktime | MPEG-2

This week, we present an orphan film, purchased some time ago on eBay by Tony P. in France. The film features a visit to the small French town of Oradour-Sur-Glane, the site of the infamous massacre of 642 people – almost the entire population – by Germans during World War II. The remnants of destruction, seen throughout this film, have remain untouched as a memorial of this catastrophic event.The date of this film is unknown, but judging from the quality of the film and reel I would say it was fairly recently shot – 1980s or 1990s.

The story behind the images is too vast and complex to present here; instead, click here, here, and here for accounts that better explain and document the historical significance of this event.

See also this photo slideshow with accompanying map for a better sense of the geography of these locations.

Thanks to Tony P. for sending this all the way from France to us in Michigan for inclusion on this site.

Click the “MPEG-2″ link above for a high-resolution version of the film, downloadable via the Internet Archive.

]]> http://lostinlight.org/2008/03/29/oradour-sur-glane/feed/ 1 Carrier 1959 http://lostinlight.org/2007/08/25/carrier-1959/ http://lostinlight.org/2007/08/25/carrier-1959/#comments Sat, 25 Aug 2007 15:48:22 +0000 Jen http://lostinlight.org/2007/08/25/carrier-1959/

click image to play in Flash | Quicktime | MPEG-2

This week’s home movie features incredible footage of an US aircraft carrier and US Navy destroyers under rough seas in the 1950s. Submitted by Diane Dobronte in California, this film is quite an exhilarating watch. Diane gives us a little backstory:

My Dad, Capt. Frank Dobronte, was stationed aboard the USS Tarawa in the Atlantic out of Rhode Island during the late 50’s. The ship has been decommissioned but it was quite an incredible experience to be on board. – Dad was one of the dentists aboard this aircraft carrier and we were guests in the Officers dining room and film room sometimes.

The first USS Tarawa (CV-40) was one of the Navy’s potent new 27,000 ton aircraft carriers and sister of the Essex, Shangri-La, and Princeton. The first Navy ship so named, Tarawa was built at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia, and launched in the Elizabeth River on May 12, 1945. [ed. note: this information comes from the official Navy website of the USS Tarawa; see more fascinating history of this ship and its successors at http://www.tarawa.navy.mil/]

My Dad loved to take film of the planes taking off and landing but this clip is of destroyers coming along side during some rough seas. These are Buckley Class destroyers: DE-702 USS Earl V. Johnson and DE-669 USS Pavlic (APD 70).

They practiced various maneuvers on a regular basis and in this one they actually transfer someone along a rip cord from destroyer to carrier. Quite amazing considering how rough it is and even more amazing that my Dad caught it on film because the joke was that my Dad suffered from terrible sea sickness.

For more information about the USS Tarawa (CV-40), see the Wikipedia entry, Navy photographs, and the USS Tarawa Veterans’ Association website.

See our File Directory for a link to the full resolution film, which can be downloaded from the Internet Archive.

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