The Longest Yarn set to land at Naval Air Station Wildwood
ERMA — Thousands of people all over the world have been knitting as fast as they can. In groups or alone by the glow of their computer screen, listening to advice and encouragement from across the ocean.
From an American military base in Belgium to right here in Cape May County, hundreds of pairs of hands have been fussing over knitted boots, learning how to perl a believable telegraph line, even how to make a British World War II landing craft unloading tanks on a rocky beach — all out of yarn.
To understand why requires a quick trip to coastal Normandy, France, best known for two things.
The famous Bayeux Tapestry is not just a work of art, it’s the historical record of a battle that occurred almost 1,000 years ago. Stitched across its 224 feet is a medieval graphic novel of men and horses piled into unsteady boats to cross the rough English Channel, putting everything on the line to win a kingdom.
These men were not seasoned mariners. In fact, most were in their teens. They were memorialized in the tapestry designed to drape around the nave of Bayeux Cathedral, depicting their adventures to future generations.
A mere 878 years later, a much larger force of soldiers reversed the trip. Setting off from the south of England on June 5, 1944, they landed on the coast of Normandy within a few miles of Bayeux.
Some had volunteered and some had been drafted, some were doctors or engineers, but many were scared teenagers just trying to stay alive. Thousands fought their way up the beaches to stamp out a great evil and return democracy to the world.
That was June 6, 1944. Due to its position at a crossroads just inland from the coast, Bayeux became the first French city to be liberated from the lawless greed and psychotic rule of Nazi Germany.
The victorious soldiers of D-Day marched right past the tapestry, many of them oblivious to the significance.
The similarities are not lost on Tansy Forster, a Brit who today lives near Bayeux.
With the 80th anniversary of D-Day coming up in 2024, Forster decided to do something to commemorate the soldiers involved.
She had personal reasons to want to do something special. In previous years, the locals of the region had enjoyed hosting the battle’s veterans during the annual memorials. One of these veterans, a Cape May restaurant owner named Harry Kulkowitz, had served as a radioman during some of the heaviest fighting on D-Day.
By virtue of his personality and vibrant memory, he was a particular favorite among the French — and the Forsters. But time takes all in the end, and Harry passed away in 2017.
Many of the veterans that had brought such poignant meaning to the celebrations were slipping away, and it occurred to Forster that the real meaning of that daunting operation was passing, as well.
And that’s when she thought of the Bayeux Tapestry.
“And I thought, ‘Why don’t I make a topper for the garden wall?’” Forster told the BBC last year at the time of the big 80th anniversary celebrations.
With this small idea in mind, Forster reached out to some of the inspiring “knit-bombers” in the UK whose work she wanted to emulate. Their “toppers” had begun as a small way to cheer people through the COVID-19 pandemic, and slowly turned into a national obsession.
Forster just wanted a little vignette, made by grateful hands; a piece of textile art that told the story of the hero she knew to whomever was walking by that week. How hard could it be to knit a little scene starring Harry Kulkowitz?
The knitting groups Forster spoke to had suggestions. Maybe too many suggestions. Word spread, attracting other knitters from near and far. Forster watched as the project grew bigger by the day.
Local women in Normandy wanted to help, but so did people in the UK and the United States, some of whom had grandfathers and uncles who took part in the landings.
“Suddenly it went along the lines of the Bayeux Tapestry and ended up as 80 meters (262 feet),” Forster said.
Each meter-long panel had to tell one part of the complicated tale. By watching the 1962 movie “The Longest Day,” Forster and the volunteers whittled down the thousands of separate actions in that sprawling operation to a narrative that made sense in 80 panels (for 80 years past).
Over Zoom, knitters worked on making each scene exactly right. The idea blossomed into a 3-D tapestry they named “The Longest Yarn.”
By exchanging patterns and discussing many of the details with volunteer historians for accuracy, the knitters got to work on creating the small yarn soldiers who would represent the real men. Every bit of personal detail was welcome. Stories that had been ignored or forgotten found their way back into the narrative in yarn.
Through sheer hard work they finished it in time for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The winding diorama was displayed in the church in Carantan, a small town closer to the beaches, and well-known to fans of the series “Band of Brothers.”
It’s at this point in the tale that Harry Kulkowitz pops up again. Friendly, funny Harry; the man who opened the Mad Batter restaurant in Cape May way back in 1978, and was the owner of the Carroll Villa.
Harry’s son, Mark Kulkowitz, had accompanied his father to the annual memorial ceremonies since 2004. They had, in fact, stayed at the home of Tansy Forster becoming friends with the couple and enjoying the celebrity the locals graciously afforded Harry.
“This panel is really why the whole project happened,” Forster wrote of panel #59 “Harry Kulkowitz signals” in her new guidebook for The Longest Yarn. “Harry, a complete stranger to us, was billeted with us in our home for the 60th” — the 60th anniversary of D-Day, back in 2004 — “back in the days when a call went out — ‘would you take a veteran for 6th June week?’.”
The friendship formed that week lasted for the rest of Harry’s life. Of course, Mark Kulkowitz was going to France to see his father depicted in yarn.
The panel features a tiny knitted Harry as he looked at age 20, intercepting a signal from the enemy. The boy who lied about his age to enlist in 1942 made it up the beach on D-Day and all the way through the Bulge, the Ardennes and to Berlin, sending radio signals back to Bletchley Park for decryption.
He was a stalwart Cape May character, but many who knew him had no idea he’d earned the Legion of Honor in France and was personally honored by President Barack Obama. Harry’s son Mark was proud, and happy to visit old friends again.
And once he saw panel #59 in all its impossibly detailed glory, Mark was insistent that somehow, some way, The Longest Yarn was coming to Cape May.
Helping to plan it were Rita Rothberg and Dawn Austin, friends who work at the County Clerk’s Office. Together they attacked the daunting logistics of moving 80 meters of heavy, fragile wool sculptures across the Atlantic Ocean.
Another group of volunteers began to form around the idea, knitting poppies, souvenirs and tiny soldiers that could be sold to raise funds for the trip.
Absolutely no one stopped to question that this massive, unfunded, completely unexpected art installation was coming to New Jersey, one way or another.
And, amazingly, it worked: The Longest Yarn will soon arrive at Naval Air Station Wildwood. Amazingly, a French pilot heard about it and convinced United Airlines to sponsor the flight of all 80 one-meter panels to the U.S.
With that bit of luck, they decided that after the other expenses of moving the tapestry are covered, all funds raised by the Cape May County Chapter of The Longest Yarn will go to veteran charities.
The naval air base at NASW was an obvious choice to host this hand-crafted history lesson.
“The NASW is so excited for it to come,” said Austin, logistics guru for this project.
“Maybe because it happened there in France, the battle is still so immediate to them. That’s all the more reason it has to come here. And it’s so much more accessible for all ages to see,” she added, mentioning a few films and TV shows about D-Day that, while accurate and beautifully made, are too horrific for young kids to watch.
“The NASW already has field trips lined up with schools from all around. This is going to be so exciting.”
While The Longest Yarn tours the UK and Northern Ireland on its way to Cape May, volunteers here are still working. Thousands of people knitted poppies to decorate the entrance of Notre Dame of Carantan when the three-dimensional tapestry was first unveiled to the crowds during the 80th anniversary.
One of those people, Liz Shay, coordinated the creation of a cascade of 700 yellow poppies in honor of the 101st Airborne Division. Now, even more are working to make poppies to decorate the NASW in time for the opening April 25.
“It’s a beautiful project,” said Shay, who traveled to France a week before the D-Day anniversary to set up the “Screaming Eagles” cascade, as well as some red sprays on the entrance. “Cape May should be very proud of it.”
The Longest Yarn is set to open April 25 at Naval Air Station Wildwood. Find The Longest Yarn on Facebook or at thelongestyarn.com.
By VICTORIA RECTOR/For the Star and Wave