Interview with Bob Lansdale: D-Day Landings in France

Taking place in January, 2019, my interview with Robert ‘Bob’ Lansdale was meant to be done to meet the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. Off by 5 years, and unfortunately without Bob around to see it, I present it here for the first time.

PART ONE

In the five years that have passed, a lot of information has arisen in regards to how much of the footage shot by the Canadian Army Film Unit was taken by the combat cameramen, and what was shot using ‘automatic’ cameras, or ‘stick-ons’ as Bob would say in the interview.

PART TWO

With the finding of Sgt. Bill Grants war diary notes, the video I did would verify footage shot by Sgt. Grant as he left England and landed on the beaches of Normandy…and beyond. Additional research would uncover documents buried within the Public Relations files held at Library & Archives Canada. Two documents would be presented, each praising the Canadian Army Film & Photo Unit.

In another video I made, about a camera claimed to have been used in Korea and on D-Day, held in the vaults at the Ingenium Centre in Ottawa, would salute the efforts of the Unit, and those of Captain Colin McDougall. With a surprise guest on hand to share his father’s account of hitting the beaches on June 6th, 1994, in search of ‘stick-on’ camera’s, would further fortify the stance that all footage shot was a truly Canadian effort, and should be recognised as such. Click on the image to the right to view the video.

At the end of my interview, Bob Lansdale would hand me a small box with several micro-cassettes, “These are the tapes I recorded Ken Bell on, and they should be archived.” On them Ken Bell would explain to Bob how the footage was shot and where the credit should go. I have yet to find a outlet to transfer the micro-cassettes. I purchased a Micro-cassette player/recorder, but one of the tapes will not play, so I am going to leave it to an expert. Hopefully I can someone to digitize it before donating it to the Archives.

I wish I had more time to go more in depth in presenting Bob’s research, but there is enough in the interview that anyone could see the same conclusions Bob would present in the interview.

I want to thank Glenn Warner for his help with the technical assistance in setting up the scene with Bob. It was nice to have him on board for a change from my usual one-man crew of myself to handle all of the production; camera, sound, lighting, and still manage to pull off the interview, all at the same time.

After the interview, I followed Bob into his basement where he sat behind his desk, and shared some of his thoughts on how he managed to publish the bi-monthly Journal of the Photographic Historical Society of Canada (PHSC).

I cherish the time when I sit down with each and every one of the people I interview, and this one is no exception. Bob Lansdale was a much loved crusader in the Canadian Photographic industry, and will be sorely missed.