Keep the Memories Alive 2010 – Test The Nation Free Survey

How much do you really know about World War history?

Leger Holidays - the UKs leading provider of escorted Battlefield tours - is putting adults’ World War knowledge under the spotlight with the launch of a new online survey.

Last year, research conducted by Leger with 1,000 under 16 year olds identified startling gaps in kids’ knowledge about World War history and their own family history. This sparked a drive by Leger Holidays to ensure that these important memories and historic knowledge are not forgotten through a campaign to ‘Keep the Memories Alive’.

This year Leger is continuing with the drive to ensure memories are being maintained and is asking whether adults are as well-informed as they think. They are asking adults to take part in a new online survey and kids are also being encouraged to test their parents’ knowledge.

The survey questions have been developed in collaboration with Specialist Battlefields guide and Military Historian, Paul Reed.

Paul has an MA in history and over 25 years’ experience as a military history researcher, lecturer and battlefields guide. He lived on the Somme for ten years, and regularly works with WW2 veteran groups in Britain and overseas.

He is the author of six definitive books on WWI and has worked as a consultant for and appeared in BBC history programmes such as ‘Meet the Ancestors’, ‘My Family at War’, ‘Timewatch’ and ‘Dig 1940’. He is also currently researching a series of books about WWII.

As part of the campaign Leger Holidays will also be visiting schools throughout the UK with local veteran groups to give kids the chance to hear first hand memories and see memorabilia about this important period of history.

The campaign also continues to encourage people to speak to their own family about the First and Second World War and send a memory to leger@lucre.co.uk.

Survey Results - UK fails to know its VE Day from its D-Day

A new campaign which aims to ‘Keep the Memories Alive’ has revealed there is a startling lack of knowledge about the First and Second World Wars across adults in the UK.

A questionnaire conducted by Leger Holidays with members of the British public shows that one in five (21%) don’t know which country we went to war for in 1939 and a startling two thirds of people (69%) don’t know which was the main British battlefront in the First World War.

In addition, the research revealed 57% of respondents wrongly thought that the D in D-Day stood for Dunkirk, Deliverance, Decision or even Doom – in reality D Day was a military term indicating the start day of a military operation. It was not specific to Normandy or 6th June 1944.

The multiple choice questionnaire was completed by 500 adults over the age of 18, from across the UK. The answers revealed:

• A shocking 83% don’t know the official dates of the First World War (1914 – 1919), with many thinking it ended a year earlier in 1918. Although fighting finished on the Western Front in 1918, it was in reality just a ceasefire agreement, and the war didn’t officially end until the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28th June 1919.
• Three quarters of people (77%) don’t know that Armistice Day marks the end to the official fighting on the Western Front, with many wrongly thinking it marks the official end of the war.
• One in five (21%) didn’t know we went into the Second World War for the country of Poland – 11% wrongly guessed France and 5% Great Britain.
• Two out of three people (69%) don’t know the main British Battlefront in WW1 was Ypres, with the majority believing it was the Somme.
• One in ten (9%) don’t know VE Day stands for Victory in Europe Day – some wrongly guessing it was ‘Victory for England’.
• Despite it being the largest amphibious military operation in history, one in seven (14%) don’t know the date of the famous D-Day landings in Normandy (6th June).
• More than one in three (38%) don’t know that VJ Day, on 2nd September, marked the end of World War Two.

The release of the findings is part of an ongoing campaign by Leger Holidays, the UK’s leading battlefield tour provider, to encourage people to ‘Keep the Memories Alive’ by talking to older relatives, friends and neighbours before vital information is lost forever. As part of the campaign people are urged to share stories, via speeches from veterans at schools, to a dedicated memory catcher on the website www.keepthememoriesalive.co.uk

Paul Reed, Leger’s battlefield expert, with more than 25 years experience as a military historian, battlefield guide and broadcaster, said: “Although the results across the board were pretty disappointing, I think they show that WW1 history is fading quicker than WW2, which is perhaps understandable given the last British veteran from the First World War sadly died in 2009. But I don’t think people really understand that – one in five people questioned (19%) thought there were still WW1 veterans alive, but if you think about it, they would have to be well over 110 years old now.

“Although people can read in books, there is no substitute for talking to someone who was actually involved about their own experience, or going and visiting some of the key sites and taking a moment to really reflect on what happened. We have set up a programme of taking WWII veterans into schools to talk through their experiences, and the children are fascinated. Given the results from the questionnaire, it seems we just need to encourage Britain’s adults to do likewise!”

Leger Holidays offers a wide range of breaks taking in places which were of key importance during WWI and WWII, as well as more recent conflicts. All tours are led by expert guides who can provide in-depth commentary and information along the way. Some of the tours focus on specific battles such as the Battle of the Somme, or on specific campaigns like The Italian Campaign, whilst others focus in on people, such as Anne Frank, Oscar Schindler or the war poets, or are timed to coincide with particular anniversaries. Incorporating the most famous sites of both world wars, the D-Day Landings in Normandy and All Quiet on the Western Front tours promise the perfect introduction to some of the key events in modern history.

To help families who might be interested in taking tours to research their family tree, or to bring a school project to life, Leger is also offering reduced children’s prices on selected battlefield tours during the school holidays for those aged 17 and under.