FASCINATING stories revealing life in North Devon during the war years continue to emerge after secret footage showing US soldiers training in the area was discovered.

Tony Koorlander from Bideford is the first person in 65 years to have seen the captivating films of American soldiers training in North Devon which have lain undiscovered in a Baltimore archive since the end of the war.

After featuring some of the Second World War pictures last week, the

Journal

has been contacted by people from both sides of the Atlantic with incredible wartime tales to tell.

At the same time, through his links with the military academy in New York, Tony has been to visit Wes Ross, a 146 Engineer Combat Battalion soldier in the US, who trained at Woolacombe to interview the 88-year-old former soldier in person.

Lila Harrison contacted the

Journal

with details of her father-in-law, Lee Harrison's, experiences. Corporal Lee Harrison was with the United States 86th Black Hawks Division and was first stationed at Woolacombe with the 36th reinforcement company as switchboard operator in 1943.

Three months later he was transferred to Saunton as a sergeant in charge of the switchboard near Braunton where he met his future wife, Winifred Joan Rudall. Winifred was a telephone operator in Barnstaple and lived with her parents at 35 Victoria Street in the living quarters above their corner store. Her grandmother also owned the Horse & Groom Pub.

Lee was stationed there until just after the invasion and then went to Belgium but returned to England to marry Joan on November 21, 1945.

Lila said: "The following February he went home to Seattle, Washington without his bride as Joan had to wait until April to board a war bride ship.

"They lived in Seattle most of their lives and moved to Mesa, Arizona in 1993."

Joan died in January 2001 and Lee, who is now 84, still lives in Arizona.

Peggy Thomas from Barnstaple was just eight-years-old when North Devon became a prominent American training base.

One of the US soldiers, Jess Snider, used to stay with her family in Barnstaple after meeting her sister Joan and her friend, also called Joan, on a night out at the former Regal Cinema.

Peggy said: "Jess — who we called Tex as he was a farm worker from Texas — was stationed at Ilfracombe and when they had time off, he would come and stay with us.

"We lost touch, and then back in the 1950s he found our address and contacted us. He used to come and visit every year and would call every week from the USA. He was like a brother to me."

Jess was wounded at the age of 20 by a sniper after being sent to Belgium and Germany.

Peggy has a tape recording of his wartime experiences when he talks about being loaded into boats waiting to go to France and having to sleep overnight in them because of the weather. Also of his role as an engineer defusing mines and picking up bodies in Normandy.

Once back in touch with Peggy and her family, Jess's cousin, a clergyman, married Peggy's daughter and her partner in the grounds of Jess's home in Vermont. Jess died in November last year at the age of 86.

Tony Koorlander, who made the incredible discovery of the wartime footage is continuing to find new reels of film and says Wes Ross is keen to work with him on the project to put together a DVD of the film and his own experiences.

Tony met Wes in Palm Springs earlier this month. He said: "Wes is enthralled by what we have discovered and has been filling in some of the missing bits."

Wes was in North Devon for about three months from November 1943. He helped establish an assault training centre at Saunton Sands before going to Newquay to train others. He then came back as new defences had been discovered at Omaha and he needed to step up practice in North Devon.

Tony said: "It was 65 years ago and Wes recalls going to Omaha Beach as if it was yesterday.

"He told me about training with live ammunition at Braunton Burrows and shots going over his head.

"There were a lot of fatalities and he saw one soldier set a charge and use a cigarette lighter. He ended up killing himself.

"He also spoke about landing at D-Day - he said he didn't realise that the Germans had perfected a silencer until soldiers started falling to the ground around him. They didn't know where they (German soldiers) were, it was something they were not prepared for and it was a horrendous situation."

Tony said: "Wes is the most fascinating man with amazing stories and is incredible to talk to."

Wes has put Tony in touch with the former commander in chief of the US activities on Braunton Burrows, Captain Arthur "Art" Hill, who he now hopes to visit.. Capt Hill runs a museum in Fresno, California which Tony hopes will be able to link in with his project to make films, DVDs and information available in North Devon.