CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: INTERNET SITES CHRONICLE HISTORY AND HORRORS OF WORLD WAR II (COLUMN 97)

What was D-Day like? After watching "Saving Private Ryan," moviegoers have a brutal, first-hand view of war.

We both saw the movie last week. It's a powerful movie, but it's very tough to watch. It made us wonder more about the history of World War II. We found quite a bit of information on the Internet.

The Steven Spielberg movie takes us back to the invasion of Normandy and follows a handful of men charged with finding Private Ryan. Ryan's three brothers had already been killed in the war.

Joni: It's more a movie about people than the issues of the war. It seems people either love it or hate it. I'm not sure I could see it again, but I'm glad I saw it the first time.

Peggy: People I talked to discuss the realism of the movie. It's hard for me to imagine the horrors of war beyond history books.

Joni: Encyclopedia Britannica brings us a site looking at the history behind "Saving Private Ryan" called Imagining D-Day.

private-ryan.eb.com

Peggy: The plot was inspired in part by a true story of a man named Fritz Niland, one of four brothers from New York state who saw action during the war.

Joni: You can find lots of history here along with film clips, newsreels and maps. Americans suffered 2,400 casualties on Omaha Beach June 6, 1944. One historian at the site feels the Spielberg movie gives a pretty genuine depiction.

Peggy: You can also find out more about the rows and rows of white crosses above Omaha Beach. More than 9,000 Americans are buried there. You can also read stories of people who have visited the cemetery.

Joni: The encyclopedia suggests the exact number of casualties will never be known because the troops were multinational and record-keeping was difficult. But the site says the invasion cost 29,000 U.S. lives. Another 106,000 were wounded or reported missing from June 6 to Sept. 14.

Peggy: There were another 11,000 British troops killed. Also lost were Canadian and German troops and French civilians and others. All told, over 550,000 on both sides were killed, wounded or missing. The losses are staggering.

Joni: You can also read about the famous names from the war like Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Winston Churchill. It will link you with other World War II sites on the web, including the National D-Day Memorial Foundation.

www.dday.org

Peggy: This site opens with powerful words from Eisenhower on that fateful day: "Soldiers, Sailers and Airman of the Allied Expeditionary Force: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere are with you... ."

Joni: The foundation is charged with designing, building and operating a national memorial. It will be located in Bedford, Va., a city which lost 21 young men at D-Day, the highest per capita loss of any U.S. city.

Peggy: There are two virtual tours which require QuickTime to view. You can see the facility today and take a look at the way the site will look when it's completed. These are the 360-degrees photographs.Joni: Here are living histories from four people and their first-person accounts of D-Day. You can listen to them tell their stories. Here's another interesting site, the National Archives and Records Administration.

www.nara.gov/exhall/people/people.html

Peggy: Their World War II online exhibit is titled "A People at War." Interestingly, much of the information came from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. They hope the exhibit will give people a deeper understanding of sacrifice and commitment by soldiers and civilians.

Joni: They say that although the attack on Pearl Harbor caught us off guard, not all military experts were surprised. The site has documents from military soldiers warning of the Japanese threat, dating back to the 1920s.

Peggy: They also talk about women who served, the war in the Pacific and in Europe. They highlight the role of science in the war. Here's information about amphibious trucks and the M-1 semi-automatic rifle, which Patton called "the most deadly rifle in the world."

Joni: This site shows you the actual documents. Here's a faded incoming message about Japan's impending surrender. Another informational site is the Drop Zone Virtual Museum.

www.thedropzone.org.

Peggy: It has information about the U.S. paratroopers and glidermen of World War II. This is an oral history project. Here is Normandy in photos taken by soldiers. You can also submit your own memories in the Virtual Reunion and the Virtual Scrapbook.

Joni: Interestingly, Paramount didn't put up an official "Saving Private Ryan" site on the Internet. Surfers seem a little unhappy and disjointed by the lack of an official site. But lots of other sites have sprung up in tribute of the movie and in memory of the D-Day invasion.

Peggy: We were overwhelmed by the number of related World War II sites found on the Internet. Sites discuss specific theaters of action, troops, equipment, tactics and people.

Joni: For us, it's the stories of the people that are most moving and ultimately most important. What's your favorite World War II site? E-mail us at click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

~Peggy Scott and Joni Adams are members of the Southeast Missourian online staff.