Eric Brunt, a documentary filmmaker from Victoria, is on his second round of interviews with Second World War veterans and, at an average age of 97 among those still alive, he is racing against the clock. In fact, of the 475 veterans he\u0027s interviewed since his project began in 2019, 235 — that he\u0027s aware of — have since died.
Eric Brunt, a documentary filmmaker from Victoria, is on his second round of interviews with Second World War veterans and, at an average age of 97 among those still alive, he is racing against the clock. In fact, of the 475 veterans he’s interviewed since his project began in 2019, 235 — that he’s aware of — have since died.Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion delivered straight to your inbox at 7 a.m., Monday to Friday.
Listening to Brunt talk about his work over the phone from Victoria leaves the impression every single one of the interviews is his favourite. Each is a unique tale, ordinary men and women describing extraordinary events in simple, matter-of-fact language. “The guy was shot down and lived on a raft with his crewmates for 10 days before they were rescued,” Payne began.
There was nothing where the rations should have been, the six men had just chocolate bars and water-purification tablets.“And eventually, a German fishing boat finds them, picks them up, takes them as prisoners of war and thankfully the war is over in another, I think, three weeks. So they’re not prisoners for very long, but that in itself, like, it’s just the way that Doc tells it.”“I’m totally way more lively telling this story than Doc. It’s just like, ‘Yeah, this is what we did, yeah.