It’s been my unhappy experience to discover that the majority of first-person D-Day stories are to some degree inaccurate. Often this is because the individual experienced such a narrow view of the massive operation that he misinterpreted what he saw. In other cases, it is a result of fading memory or unintentional exaggeration. And then there are the cases in which people alter the facts to enhance their reports or their reputations. […]
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In my opinion, da Cunha’s work constitutes not only an exemplary achievement in the context of the Capa D-Day investigation but a major contribution to the forensic analysis of photographic materials, one that sets a benchmark for future inquiries. […] In this project we have made and continue to make a collective argument in support of a radical deconstruction of an enduring media myth — arguably the most high-profile myth of photojournalism, one of the most familiar in photo history, and one that has infiltrated the wider territory of cultural history. We have as our goal the presentation of sufficient contextualized evidence and reasoning to persuade even the most skeptical. Toward that end we use every tool at our disposal, with thoroughness and attention to detail prominent among those. […] Bob Landry’s landing film was not lost, nor is it missing. It’s right before our eyes. We don’t recognize it as such because we expect his first film to show scenes from D-Day. But there is no Landry film from D-Day, for the simple reason that, apparently, he did not land on D-Day. Certainly there is no evidence that he did. […] This “lost film” tale centers on Utah Beach. In brief, the D-Day film from that beach was supposedly entrusted to a courier who then accidentally dropped it into the ocean while climbing aboard a ship. This seems to be merely a miasma of self-reinforcing rumors with no factual basis. […] |
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