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WLHA Receive Cricital Acclaim
The WLHA made it onto the small screen in March of 2009 in a BBC1 Documentary called "Over Here". The programme, made in 2007 and 2008 was filmed and produced by Wild Rover productions and was directed by leading local film maker Eamonn Devlin. The WLHA supplied the actors, vehicles, uniforms and authentic props for this landmark documentary and was proud to give Eamonn and the programme it's full support. In brief, Over Here recounts the experiences of GI's stationed in Northern Ireland during WW2. The format was veteran interview with stories, incidents and historical continuity being re-enacted by the WLHA. The story continues below in a review written by Liam Fay of the Sunday Times:-
The formidable human capacity to carry on in the teeth of unspeakable horror was examined in Over Here, a lighthearted yet poignant documentary chronicling American soldiers stationed in Northern Ireland during the Second World War. In the months leading up to the D-Day landings of 1944, around 300,000 US troops were engaged in military training in the province. Drawn mainly from army reserves in the Midwest, most were raw recruits whose visit to "north ireland" was their first trip away from home. A blend of Band of Brothers and The Country Girls, Eamonn Devlin's entertaining film featured interviews with army veterans who fondly recalled their sojourn and Ulster matrons who will never forget it.
On arrival, the troops had been horrified. They found the surroundings drab, the weather foul and the local dialect impenetrable. Nevertheless, they managed to win friends and influence publicans through liberal distribution of what ration-weary Ulster folk regarded as the jewels of American civilisation: chocolate, chewing gum and Lucky Strike cigarettes.
The GIs also brought cultural gifts, such as a rambunctious new dance called the Jitterbug and what sounded like the coolest street-slang imaginable, but it was with the daughters of Ulster that the Yanks formed their closest bonds, and we heard all-too-sketchy stories about lascivious excesses that would have raised the eyebrows in downtown Gomorrah. "It never seemed to dawn on us that these fellas were going to war," said one aging admirer. "They were so laid-back you wouldn't think they were here for anything but their holidays.
To Learn more about Over Here click here