Stories from the Greatest Generation

World War II was not won by a single battle or a single hero. It was won by thousands of ordinary people who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances — and chose to rise to meet them. Soldiers who shouldn’t have survived. Spies who operated in plain sight. Cartoonists, correspondents, and civilians who each played a part most history books never bother to mention.

On the anniversary of D-Day, we think it’s worth slowing down and sitting with some of those stories. Below you’ll find Wisdom Harbour’s full collection of WWII content — from a food writer who talked her way into a war zone, to a double agent who ran an entire fictional spy network out of his own imagination, to a survivor who spent four and a half days in shark-infested waters before anyone came to help.

History is not a single story. It is thousands of them. We invite you to keep exploring.

Witness to Normandy: Art from the D-Day Invasion

More than eighty years ago, 186 paintings, drawings and sketches were created by three U.S. Navy combat artists before, during, and after the D-Day invasion.

Through all phases of the operation Navy combat artists Dwight Shepler, Mitchell Jamieson and Alexander Russo observed and recorded different aspects of this vast and complicated campaign. Though it was also filmed and photographed, the artwork they created helped convey a sense of the feelings and emotions behind the events. 

Presented here are twenty-five pieces of the artwork produced before, during, and after the D-Day invasion by these three men, whose duties at Normandy required them to carry a gun and a sketch book.

For the young artists, the challenge was unique. During their training period, they lived with the crews of the vessels destined to take part in the invasion; they rode the ships across the channel, and accompanied the troops as they landed. 

Their paintings, including descriptions of their work was subject to strict censorship. It was not until well after the events occurred that their works were allowed to become part of the accessible historic records.

Lieutenant Jamieson crossed the channel on D-Day on the deck of an LST and went ashore with one of the first demolition units at Normandy.

Specialist First Class Alexander Russo accompanied the naval forces on a landing craft and later the drive across France.

Dwight Shepler painted activities in and around the naval bases and coastal areas of England and Londonderry, Northern Ireland prior to D-Day, and was on an American destroyer during the invasion. 

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