Hello and welcome to the band of brothers reunion 2015 here in Normandy.
The Wargaming team prides itself on the attention to historical detail
that we put into the games, because we take history very seriously,
its part of who we are as a company, its part of our DNA.
We also feel that we have an obligation to give back
because our success is based on this fidelity to historical realism in the games.
Preserving this history, its not just about preserving the hardware,
its also the stories
and that’s partly why we decided to sponsor the Band of brother reunion.
The veterans didn’t have a way to talk directly about it,
and a lot of those stories just were between them
and the show opened up a door for families to say
“is it ok if we talk about this”
and then they had a way to talk about it.
The most moving things that have happened to me
have been with people who come up to me and say
“I just have to tell you my grandfather told me a story
because we watched band of brothers together
that I never would have known and he’s since passed away."
Were here now at one of the most famous landing sites of D-Day.
It was here on Omaha beach, on june the 6th 1944
that was the scene of the largest amphibious invasion ever.
The defenses were formidable,
the whole area was littered with dragons teeth topped with mines
to defeat the amphibious landing craft
and from the cliffs surrounding us the Germans had strong gun emplacements.
D-Day had indeed begun in earnest.
Behind me you can see the 30 meter cliffs
that was the task of the 2nd battalion ranger regiment to scale
and take out the heavily fortified positions.
It was believed that there were in excess of six 150mm guns located up here.
So the games you play, there’s a ton of research that went into developing them.
I’m going to talk a little bit about the overlord map,
basically the whole point of this was to bring D-Day to the game.
It was based on the real Omaha beach,
that you might have seen and even though it’s not a 100% copy
it was strongly inspired by it.
The aim was to adapt it so that players could enjoy it
and still have an immersive feeling about playing on the actual place
where their grandparents fought the war.
The World War 2 foundation is just this great organization
that keeps telling those stories,
that keeps documenting these brave men and women’s lives,
which just gives fans of the show
and, you know, history buffs a chance to come and meet us,
meet some of the vets
and feel a little bit of that history
that they might otherwise not have had.
Welcome to Arizona camp in Carentan.
We remember all the men that died for us in Normandy in 1944
for the liberation of France.
We have all troops in this camp, airborne, infantry, navy.
So this is angle villa plan it’s a village
that became a central part of the 101st Airborne’s history;
and this church became an aid station.
Two American medics, both with very little training,
happened to end up stumbling on this place.
They came here, they pinned a Red Cross flag to the door
and identified it as a place of aid.
The oath of medics is they must treat anybody in need of attention
be they friend or enemy and they stuck rigidly to that plan.
Ultimately about 80 to 85 men were treated in there,
from both sides and a civilian,
and whats remarkable is that 71 years later you can still see blood stains
on the wooden benches there where the men were laying there
and it’s one of those little stories that somehow resonates with people
because it’s all about compassion, it’s about treating people who need help.
That’s it, we’ve finished our time here with the band of brother reunion 2015
and we finish here on Utah beach.
Just to close the show then a massive thank you to the World War 2 foundation
but most of all a massive thank you to all those veterans who gave so much.