D-Day anniversary: First war really captured in film

As long as there have been wars, there have been war correspondents and, with the advent of the camera, war photographers. It's a dangerous, often lethal job, as the recent deaths of Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington once again remind us. But the still photos and especially the video that we take for granted now were once rarer.

World War II was the first war to really be captured on film, and it wasn't until I began researching in the NBC News archive that I began to think about how amazing it is that we have any film from that time at all.

As the editorial director for the enhanced e-book edition of Antony Beevor's D-Day: The Battle for Normandy, it was my job to sift through hours of film, both raw footage and newsreels, and pick the 20 minutes to 30 minutes that would go into the e-book. A life-long World War II aficionado and frequent History Channel viewer, I knew there was a good amount of film on the war. But even I was surprised by the amazing footage I found.

Fickle nature of film

In our digital world, it's easy to forget what a fussy medium film can be. It's susceptible to light leaks, moisture, dust, dirt and extreme heat or cold. In other words, beaches, foxholes and bombed-out towns are about as conducive to clean film as a car alarm is to sleeping in. As a film school graduate, I'm only too familiar with film's fickle nature.

Believe me when I say it takes skill and finesse to change a reel sitting at your kitchen table; I can't even imagine what it was like on the beaches of Normandy with bullets whizzing past. And yet we have clear film of the Normandy landings, the deadly hedgerow fighting through the Norman countryside, even a bomb's eye view of American and British planes bombing German positions. It's truly breathtaking. It's even more remarkable when you consider that film as medium was less than 40 years old during the war.

In addition to film being fussy, there's also the very real problem that if your hands are on your camera, they're not holding your gun. It's a different kind of shooting all together. Much like today, when journalists and videographers are embedded with troops in Afghanistan or Iraq, during World War II they followed just as closely, landing on the beaches of Normandy and risking their lives to capture that monumental event on film. Newsreels put a positive spin on it, but the reality (then as now) is that war is an ugly, brutal thing.

Cameramen risked lives

Some of the footage we have is from fixed cameras on the landing craft, but much of it is from intrepid cameramen, names long lost to history, who dashed across the beaches, capturing the invasion for posterity. It's because of their bravery that we can see the war firsthand.

World War II lives on in the popular consciousness. It's even still influencing fashion; pin-up style bathing suits that wouldn't look out of place on Rita Hayworth are all the rage this summer. More than any other war, World War II holds a special place in our collective memory. It was a time of great sacrifice, but also great teamwork and a real sense of national unity.

But I would argue that one of the primary reasons World War II is so enduringly popular is that it was the first war that Americans could see for themselves. The proliferation of newsreels meant that folks on the homefront could see where their loved ones were fighting, and it left an indelible mark.

On the anniversary of D-Day Monday, it's important to remember the often overlooked contribution of the filmmakers who risked their lives to make a lasting record of the war.

Emily Murdock-Baker edits both books and films for Penguin Books.