Witness History: World War Two BBC World Service

Charles Norman Shay was a field medic in the United States Army when he landed on the Normandy beach codenamed Omaha on D-Day.
On June 6, 1944, the US 1st Infantry Division faced a bombardment of machine gun fire from the German soldiers on surrounding cliffs.
More than 1,700 men died on Omaha alone. Aged just 19, Charles risked his own life to save his comrades from drowning, for which he was awarded the US silver star for gallantry.
Although he had served his country, as a native American, he was deprived the right to vote until 1954.
Aged 99, he tells Josephine McDermott his remarkable account.
(Photo: Charles Norman Shay in October 1944 in Germany. Credit: Charles Norman Shay)

In 1944, a young Irishwoman called Maureen Flavin drew up a weather report that helped change the course of World War Two.
Maureen was working at a post office in Blacksod on the far west coast of Ireland. Her duties included recording rainfall, wind speeds, temperature and air pressure.
On 3 June, she sent one of her hourly reports to Dublin, unaware that the figures were being passed on to the Allied headquarters in England. It was the first indication of bad weather heading towards the coast of France - and it was a huge blow.
Hundreds of thousands of British, American and Canadian servicemen had already gathered for the most ambitious operation of the war, the assault of the Normandy beaches on 5 June.
But after reading Maureen’s report, chief meteorologist Group Captain James Stagg advised a delay of 24 hours.
US General, Dwight Eisenhower, gave the order, and D-Day was finally launched on 6 June, 1944. A date that went down in history.
Maureen's son Edward Sweeney tells Jane Wilkinson about the family's pride in their mother.
(Photo: Maureen Sweeney. Credit: Sweeney family photo)

Between 1932 and 1945, hundreds of thousands of women and girls across Asia were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army.
Referred to as "comfort women", they were taken from countries including Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia to be raped by Japanese soldiers.
Today, the issue remains a source of tension between Japan and its neighbours, with continuing campaigns to compensate the few surviving victims.
Dan Hardoon speaks to Chinese survivor Peng Zhuying who, along with her elder sister, was captured and taken to a "comfort station" in central China.
This programme contains disturbing content.
(Photo: People visit a museum dedicated to the victims, on the site of a former comfort station in China. Credit: Yang Bo/China News Service/VCG/Getty Images)

The Mount Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompeii in 79AD is well known, but far fewer people know about the last time the volcano erupted in 1944.
It was World War Two, and families in southern Italy had already lived through a German invasion, air bombardment, and surrender to the Allies.
And then at 16:30 on 18 March, Vesuvius erupted. The sky filled with violent explosions of rock and ash, and burning lava flowed down the slopes, devastating villages.
By the time it was over, 11 days later, 26 people had died and about 12,000 people were forced to leave their homes.
Angelina Formisano, who was nine, was among those evacuated from the village of San Sebastiano. She’s been speaking to Jane Wilkinson about being in the path of an erupting volcano.
(Photo: Vesuvius erupting in March 1944. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

In August and September 1939, tens of thousands of children began to be evacuated from Paris.
The move, part of France's 'passive defence' tactic, aimed to protect children from the threat of German bombardment.
Colette Martel was just nine when she was taken from Paris to Savigny-Poil-Fol, a small town more than 300km from her home.
She’s been speaking to her granddaughter, Carolyn Lamboley, about how her life changed. She particularly remembers how she struggled to fit in with her host family, and how it all changed because of a pair of clogs.
(Photo: Colette (left) with her sister Solange in 1939. Credit: family photo)

In 1940 a daring rescue operation began to help Allied servicemen escape from Nazi-occupied France.
French resistance fighter Roland Lepers was among those who guided stranded Allied soldiers and airmen to neutral Spain during World War Two. The 1,000 km route became known as the Pat O’Leary Escape Line - or the Pat Line.
It’s estimated 7,000 Allied personnel escaped through this route and similar escape lines, thanks to a network of people who clothed, fed and hid them. Peter Janes was one of those British servicemen.
Roland’s daughter Christine and Peter’s son Keith, speak to Jane Wilkinson about their fathers’ adventures.
(Photo: German-controlled checkpoint in France, 1940. Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)