Google commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Normandy D-Day landings with a special collection in the Google Cultural Institute. The huge collection of photos, letters and documents and other archival material brings to life one of the most significant events of the last century. Items of historical interest include hundreds of photos, maps, documents and letters like Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s D-Day prayer.
The online exhibit is in the familiar scrolling slideshow format that takes you through the 570 documents and images, which can be set to auto-play and viewed in a darkened lightbox. There are five separate exhibits from the participating institutions. You can also refine your browsing and look at them through Event, Place, Person, Media Type, Physical Object, and Date. Switch between three different viewing modes – the default Gallery View, Grid View to help you go through it quickly, and the List View where you can take it in one item at a time.
The National Archives, The George C. Marshall Research Foundation, The Imperial War Museum, and Bletchley Park codebreaker center, among other institutions have collaborated with Google to put the historical collection online.
For anyone interested in the history of World War II and in particular Operation Overlord, it is an invaluable tool to find everything in one place. This is an educational tool for students who can immerse themselves in the events that started the end of the war. 160,000 Allied troops landed on those beaches that day. One in ten were killed. Above all, it is a digital tribute to the men and women from all nations who sacrificed their lives on the beaches of Normandy and beyond.