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US film crew in Wootton Bassett focuses on respect for fallen (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)
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US film crew in Wootton Bassett focuses on respect for fallen
3:33pm Thursday 16th July 2009
Wootton Bassett was visited by an American television crew last week filming for a documentary about the respect shown by townspeople for the fallen service personnel repatriated through the town.
A camera crew and researchers for the US cable news network CNN talked to residents about the 78 impromptu ceremonies that have taken place in the town in the last two years since RAF Lyneham took on the repatriation duty from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
The 30-minute film will be aired in the autumn on CNN International as well as several satellite channels in the UK.
Andrew Carey, producer for CNN in London, said residents have been very supportive of the project.
He said: “The townspeople have shown us great hospitality and made us feel very welcome.
“I hope the documentary will prove of interest to people worldwide and they will be drawn to the fact that a tradition has grown up quite naturally and that it has struck a chord with people far beyond the town itself.
“If RAF Lyneham does close and the repatriations return to RAF Brize Norton then this documentary might provide a record of this short period for people to look back on.”
Wootton Bassett town councillor Audrey Wannell said the film was another honour for Wootton Bassett.
“I’m immensely proud of what is done here and we regularly hear from members of all three services what comfort our respects are to the families of the fallen and to the soldiers who continue to serve in dangerous territory.
“Many have said that we are a beacon of respect for the rest of the country and if that is true I hope the film will encourage others to pay their respects in this way.”
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Your Say YourGazette
mjhudston, Chippenham says...
4:50pm Sat 18 Jul 09
However this seems to be out of touch with what the MP James Gray is saying, when he claims the people of WB want no acknowledgment or recognition as he claimed in his column in the G&H this week.
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Munden, Startley says...
12:13am Sat 18 Jul 09
As it is the vast majority of the Wootton Bassett’s population are busy at work elsewhere on these occasions and like me people who attend are from far and wide. Eighteen year old children only weeks into the forces and dying on behalf of the Great Idiot Brown are being sent to unnecessary death because of his utter incompetence.
If the “people of Wootton Bassett” really turned out then there would also be others doing like wise and the streets and roads would be lined solid from Lyneham to Oxford. Everyone who can manage to make it, media or public are to be praised. I’m sure more would be there if they could.