Page 140 - Chronicle Vol 17

CORNWALL’S ARMY MUSEUM
Bodmin Keep is working on an oral history project to capture the experiences of veterans deployed to Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1998. The team would like to hear testimony from former servicemen from the Light Infantry who served in Northern Ireland during this period and have been working with Rockpool CIC and students on the University of Plymouth Research Methods in Visual, Material and Oral History (HIS5005) course in preparation. Interviews are set to begin in December and continue throughout 2024.
It has been a year full of celebration and commemoration at Bodmin Keep. In March, the museum held two events to present new research about the experience of Black GIs in Cornwall during preparations for D-Day. The research was under- taken by Charlotte Marchant, a former Intern at the Keep, and was funded in partnership with the Imperial War Museum (IWM) as part of their Second World War and Holocaust Partnership Programme (SWWHPP).
As part of her research, Charlotte visited Washington DC and worked with Susan Kearney of The 29th Division Association, studying records at NARA (National Archives Records Administration) to uncover the locations of segregated camps for Black GIs during World War Two. This ‘hidden history’ formed the founda- tions of a new US Army in Cornwall exhibit, which is currently on display in the museum and sits alongside a US 29th Infantry Division uniform kindly donated by Susan.
In April, the museum welcomed the Armed Forces Day flag relay to Bodmin, in an event attended by representatives of the DCLI, SCLI, LI & Rifles Association Cornwall, staff, trustees, volunteers, veterans, community groups and children from St Petroc’s Primary School. Bodmin was one of ten locations across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly chosen to host an official flag relay ceremony.
Cornwall hosted National Armed Forces Day in June, during which the museum team created a pop-up museum display as part of the celebrations in Falmouth and held an Armed Forces Day navigation challenge in Bodmin. Museum staff also took part in the AFD Schools Day, giving morse code sessions and introduc- ing objects from the collection to 400 children over the course of the day.
139