…And I was wondering how long it would take someone to challenge the authenticity of my photos.
I just updated the post with larger versions (800 pixels wide, 72 dpi) for the..."forensic" experts in the audience. Help yourself.
I can come up with the 300 dpi source if you don't mind getting heavy pictures.
What the people challenging the authenticity of the pictures don't understand is that I have nothing to gain in faking such information.
I'm not the BBC, Liberation or the New York Times. I'm just the dissident frogman.
The whole idea behind this site is to reveal this kind of things whenever I step on them.
I'm not paid, I'm not sponsored, in short, I have nothing to expect or to offer other than alternative information that will never ever make its way to the big media.
Particularly the seriously biased French ones.
I was in Normandy last October, for the same reason I was these past days. To honor the fallen soldiers who liberated my country.
Having in mind the events that occurred since last October, I was hoping that I wouldn't step on such afflictive practice and, gladly enough, I can't say I didn't.
Most of the places in Normandy where I went these past days where - all in all - in conformity with what one could expect from the French region where the memory of what we ought to the Allied heroes is the most vivacious.
BESIDE the Bayeux Museum that is.
(I won't mention the appalling Caen Memorial for Peace - See Lynn's comment (#17) to this post. It's a short but pertinent depiction of this so-called "memorial")
When I first saw the empty pole, I thought that it was a bit surprising but, after all, there was surely some reason. I mean, come on, not here. Not in Normandy.
But then the empty pedestal, RIGHT beside the French, British and Canadian flags? And the empty space in the display case?
Coincidences? All of them, at the same time?
I can't convince the people who want to believe that I faked these pictures.
Guess what? I don't mean to.
All I know is that I went to Bayeux, among other places, and that while on my way to the British cemetery and memorial that's next to the Museum, I noticed something "funny" with these three poles waving only two flags. I then proceeded to the Museum, bought a ticket and since the shop is (always) at the end of the visit, couldn't miss the two other "disturbing coincidences".
I shot the pictures for MY records (and posted them on MY weblog), got out of the Museum and shot the third picture with the missing flag on the third pole.
And went to my initial destination, the British war cemetery, with an upsetting feeling.
I've always considered Normandy as some kind of "safe haven" as far as French anti-Americanism was concerned and it probably still is, in most parts (not mentioning the infamous Caen Memorial for Peace).
I posted about the deep and strong link I have with "Joe and Tommy" (For the new visitors in the audience, look for the "Consecration" post). I wrote about my parents telling me about them on "Bloody Omaha" while I was a kid, telling me about my grand parents who took serious risks to hide a US flight team during the Nazi Occupation.
Today, I had lunch with my parents and I told them about these coincidences. I read incredulity, anger and shame in their eyes. I share their feelings.
So I'm telling you this: you don't believe me? You're accusing me of "doctoring" these pictures?
Fuck you. It doesn't matter what you think. I know what I saw, I know how I felt and I don't care about what you think. I recorded this with my very eyes (and my digital camera) and I'll act accordingly.
This Bayeux "incident" might have a valid and rational explanation (and I hope this post will help finding it. That's its main purpose).
I sincerely hope so.
Because I would hate to see Joe and Tommy's final resting place lacking the basic respect to their eternal memories.
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[As for #19, well… I'm not going to loose my time with such a pathetic slanderous attempt.
Unless these three empty spots were full right before I came or filled right after I left and while you were supposedly there,
Unless you have anything else to prove it other than popping in here, claiming "Ha! I was in Bayeux and I saw them and I don't trust you",
I'm just going to dismiss your comment as one of the weakest argument in defense I ever saw.
I was in Bayeux, I took these pictures. I wasn't alone, I have witnesses. I took other pictures in the same area. I still have my entry ticket to the museum.
Maybe you can show us yours? Surely, you weren't alone? Maybe your boyfriend/girlfriend/stepmother took a nifty picture of your suspicious self posturing in the Museum's park next to one of the… Say, do you remember what kind of vehicle there is in the park?
Do you remember what's written on the monument that's right under the three poles on which you saw the US flag?
Do you remember what were the other lapel pins, in the display case were you saw the US flag?
Do you remember what's right under the rack of the pedestals where you saw the US flag?
Hurry, maybe you can make a phone call and ask the clerks. Oh but… Do you remember at what time does the Museum close its doors?
And in case YOU wonder, I don't trust you as well, since I know you've been trolling around with another famous blogger…]