As we go along with our podcast we intend to add a few markers with tangible relevance to the veteran or witness featured in the episode.
We believe the populated map will eventually form a visible account of the enormous scale of WWII and how truly global and diverse the project is.
The bridge over river Issel that was an objective for 1Bn Royal Ulster Rifles to seize and hold on 24 March 1945 in Operation Varisty.
Mr Sidney Knox, having piloted a Horsa II glider for "F" Squadron Glider Pilot Regiment, participated in the defense of the bridge preventing German forces to counterattack and retake or destroy the bridge.
Having been transferred from Oflag IX with Lieutenant Richard (Dick) Fuller Morgan both remained here until 16 April 1945, when liberated by American forces. Joining one of the American sub-units both Purdon and Morgan re-joined the fighting until they were returned to Colditz for repatriation to the UK
Oflag from German: Offizierslager was a type of prisoner of war camp for officers.
After a year of imprisonment, on 26 March 1943, Purdon and a comrade, Lieutenant Richard (Dick) Fuller Morgan, escaped and were on the run for some days before recapture.
Both were subsequently transferred (after being caught digging an escape tunnel)
HMS Campbeltown wedged in the dock gates. Note the exposed forward gun position on Campbeltown and the German anti-aircraft gun position on the roof of the building at the rear.
The school where Mori went at the time.
Koi National School (now Koi Elementary School in Nishi Ward, Hiroshima) became a relief station after the A-bomb attack and took in scores of wounded. Many of them were boys and girls hit by the blast while mobilized to help create a fire lane in the city center.
A note made by an A-bomb survivor, describing conditions at the school that day, states: “There were so many victims on the floor, their bodies burned and skin peeled away, that there was no space to walk.” This scene illustrates the misery of that time.
Ditches were dug on the school yard, and a great number of bodies were cremated there. In 1949, human bones from about 2,000 victims were unearthed.
In the summer of 2010, former students of the school who experienced the atomic bombing there raised a memorial at the site. The school has held a memorial service every August, since the year 2000, with students taking part in the ceremony.
Kazuichi Nakayama, the school principal, said, “I hope children understand that nuclear weapons shouldn’t be produced or used, and that this message should be conveyed to others.”
Plaque to commemorate American soldiers killed by the atomic bomb.
"The building was the only structure that remained standing in the area around the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the end of World War II. The ruin of the hall serves as a memorial to the over 140,000 people who were killed in the bombing. It is permanently kept in a state of preserved ruin as a reminder of the destructive effects of nuclear warfare."