‘How AI helped me remember my grandad’
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A film of a pilot officer who died during the Second World War has been made by his grandson using artificial intelligence.
Anthony Jeaffreson Southwell died, aged 25, in 1942, after failing to return home from a mission over Danish waters.
Using historical family documents, Nick Southwell from Langport in Somerset has put together the “emotional” piece using historical documents, which recreates the ill-fated mission.
“To have a personal connection like that and know what he went through… just makes me incredibly proud of him,” said Nick, who only knows his grandfather through historical documents.
Anthony Southwell had been piloting Lancaster flights out of RAF Bottesford with 207 Squadron RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War.
On the evening of 16 August 1942, he was carrying out a mine-laying exercise near Denmark when they were attacked by a German Luftwaffe aircraft.
Of the seven men on board, only one survived – Jack Read. He wrote a letter to Anthony’s wife, Pauline, calling him a “hero”.
On the inspiration for the film, Nick said: “Twenty five years ago… my dad just sort of opened up about it and told me all about it, and then produced this amazing letter which was written by the sole survivor from the flight.”
Nick said the letter left an impression on him.
Southwell said he also viewed his grandfather as a “a complete hero”, and “having his photographs, his flying logbook and this remarkable letter – to make a film just seemed a really lovely way to honour him and all his crew.
“I feel my generation is one of the last to have a real, personal connection to those who lived through the Second World War – that makes it incredibly important to me that we keep their memories and stories alive,” he said.
Raccus
As part of the film, Nick also speaks to his father Max, who was born three months after Anthony, his father, died.
“It broke my heart that he didn’t have a dad,” Nick explained.
“Part of doing this was for a bit of shared experience of him – to give him a more of a connection to his own dad and bring that to life a bit for him,” he added.
Interviewed in the film, Max said: “The bravery he’s shown, makes me very proud.”
“It is very important we keep these memories alive, and that we remember them – all of them,” he added.
Anthony Southwell is buried at Esbjerg cemetery in Denmark, close to where his aircraft went down.
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