#56. Reclaiming Our Heroes’ Forgotten Stories

Episode 56 – Memory Anchor – Episode Script
Note: This transcript was created using AI voice to text and may have grammar, punctuation, and word errors.

Episode Text
A couple months ago, I was wandering the Expo Hall at RootsTech, which is the largest family history conference in the US. I came across a man speaking on a small stage, and as I walked past, I heard the words “World War 2.”
As you might imagine, that caught my attention, so I sat down to listen.
What I heard floored me!
The man turned out to be Ryan Mullens, co-founder of a company called Memory Anchor that has created a free app that can scan the text on military headstones and bring up information and bios about that individual. Based in Canada, their focus to help people remember and honor our military servicemen and women – from the various branches, wars/conflicts, and even countries.
Well, I knew this was something you would want to know about, so directly after the presentation I introduced myself.
And today, I’m happy to share with you my conversation with Ryan Mullens and Matthew Cudmore of Memory Anchor, talking about why they started this project and what they’re trying to accomplish.
[Anastasia] Ryan Mullins and Matthew Cudmore, welcome to the left behind podcast. It's great to be here. Thank you for taking time to chat. So let's just dive right in and talk about what is memory anchor.
[Ryan] So memory anchor is really about changing the way the world remembers. So we're trying to give stories back to soldiers that may have lost those stories for time and engage the public as we do that. And so we're using a variety of different technologies to help tell those stories.
So our application will guide you through that People through military cemeteries, bring them right to the grave, bring the story, the bio, all of that information to the soldier. It'll actually read it out to them as well in a current version that's coming. It also allows people just to walk through a cemetery and pull up their phone and use their camera and that camera will scan the grave and bring the story to them.
So if you're curious on who this person was, because each of those people are more than just a name on a headstone, the software will actually be able to read that without a QR code, which makes it somewhat unique and it's really about creating, creating that connection and reduce those barriers to remembrance.
[Anastasia] That's awesome. And it's one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to you guys on the podcast. I remember Ryan, when I was at RootsTech in February, you talked a little bit about the origin story of how you decided to do this, or would you like to talk about that a little?
[Ryan] Yeah, yeah, I'd be happy to.
So I come from a bit of a military family. Matthew also has a lot of military history in his family as well. So it goes back to the First World War. Both my great grandfathers fought in the First World War and then Second World War. My grandfather was pulling airmen out of the water. In the English channel.
So he was he lived in London. So he experienced the blitz and all of that. Then he came to Canada and joined the Canadian military as a communicator for his whole career. And then my mom and dad met in the army. And the bad joke is that I owe my life to the army. So, so they did. And then. Of course, with that history, I felt, a draw to serving myself.
So I served as a combat engineer for nine years. I didn't deploy to Afghanistan myself. I had a lot of my colleagues that did, did go over there. Some didn't come back and that really hit the importance of, of remembering. You know, our comrades that have given their lives. And there was a commemoration project I did about 2017, which involved honoring soldiers with a flute that was made out of a World War I battlefield wood.
And I took this flute all across France, Belgium, and Holland, and I'd play anywhere I could. I played on Omaha Beach, was actually really special moment playing there, uh, Juno Beach where the Canadians fought on D Day, and then all the World War I battles, then the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which the wood came from.
But later on, I found myself in Holland next to a World War II veteran who landed, I think D Day plus two or six, somewhere in that, and he fought all the way to the end of the war. But we were in Holland standing at his brother's grave, and it was the second time ever being there to, visit his brother and he had asked that I, I play the flute, amazing grace at his grave.
And it was a really. poignant and touching moment. And so I played for, it was Willie McGregor, his name. He's still alive. he's a hundred years old, just turned 100. I wonder if he's going to be heading out there, uh, again for the 80th anniversary. , I played for him and he told me all about his brother, John, told me a little bit about his experiences of the war.
And it really Hit me as I, as I finished talking to Willie and I'm looking out over this graveyard. There's 3000 graves of Canadians buried in there each, you know, with their own story. And it had me reflecting on the guys we lost in Afghanistan and and how they had families that love them, dreams, aspirations, and they gave those in service of their country and.
I was thinking of John and Willie and everyone and just how do we give them their stories back? How do we create that connection to these people? So we can have that empathetic experience of just knowing these soldiers in a different way. And that's where I was thinking of how do we use mobile technology?
And some of the immersive technology, and it's funny because at the time the technology wasn't capable of doing what the vision was, but I was determined to do it. And I knew I couldn't do it alone. So that's where I asked Matt to help out. And for the last 4 years, we just celebrated our 4th anniversary.
We've been working very hard at making this technology available to everyone for free. We've been adding the new technologies. A. I. Has really been an amazing step forward and telling those stories, and we can get a little more into what it does if you're interested. But that's that's the origin of it.
And we just celebrated our 100, 000 soldier in the app, and geo located. So we know where they are, and we've been able to give them stories and pictures back to these men and women. So
[Anastasia] Okay. I can't say how much I love that. So one of the driving forces for me behind what I do and, left behind is obviously I don't want memories to be forgotten, but, a lot of the men who died during world war two are what, like 2024 and they're not married.
They're single. And so how many generations do we pass before? We don't remember that. Great uncle or great, great uncle who he was and what he did. And so that's something I love about what you're doing is helping to remember those people as well as everyone who served, even the people who live into their hundreds.
[Ryan] Yeah. Oh, and Anastasia, just like, as you're saying that, like Matt and I, and I'll let Matt speak too on this, but there's times where I've been just going through and I've gone through thousands of soldiers and it's when you see each face.
And as you're pulling that face, and you're taking it to that that space. Um, that geospatial location, you're putting their name and face into the app. It's, really overwhelming experience to see that because they look like us. They have a kind smile, kind eyes.
Some, you see a dad holding their kid that they never got to actually be that dad to that kid. Those are the ones that kill me. And, um, Really get me and, you know, pictured of just newly married and never got to live that life and the amount of stories, the amount of pictures that I've seen as I put those in, and they're, they're basically forgotten when you think of how many people walk by their grave.
And you know, like Normandy American cemetery, how many people have walked by this dad and never knew he was a dad, never knew what he actually gave up. And I know you're a mom like, and can empathize with that. Could you imagine just never being there for your kid? And that's something we got to remember.
It gets me, it's getting me right now. So
[Anastasia] it's getting me too. I'm tearing up. I, I know exactly what you're talking about because I try to find pictures of every single person I talk about.
[Ryan] Yeah. Well, you're reclaiming their stories. Right. And this is what I appreciate, you know, what you do and, and that small community of other people that are trying to tell stories and the P. O. W. story is, you know, such a unique and I just can't imagine what they went through. And for the ones that you're covering that, you know, these are ones that didn't make it back.
That died in captivity, died trying to escape. we're executed in a lot of cases, which is a war crime
[Anastasia] one of the sad things about the Philippines in specific is that it's left out of world war two. It's not part of the narrative anymore.
[Ryan] And no, and I appreciate that. And and even, you know, we recently added Manila to the app and I've never mapped a cemetery so big. And it took a long time to do it. But when we have a process for geospatial locating, from a distance, these, these cemeteries, and I was just blown away by the sheer size of that.
And then to know that even further to that is what was like 36, 000 names of missing, you know, in that that cemetery on a wall, like, it was absolutely, um, incomprehensible when you actually see those numbers. And then, like you said, it's, you know, often overshadowed. You know, I appreciated Banda Brothers when they did the Pacific campaign because they're, you know, bringing more attention to that.
But that, that campaign was devastating and so unique in, in, in how it had to be fought and yet forgotten, overshadowed by, in a lot of ways, the European. Yeah. Yeah.
[Anastasia] Okay, you mentioned geomapping. can we talk a little bit about what that means and how it works in the app?
[Ryan] Sure. I, um, so one of the, one of the things that is, is really important. And so when you see Manila in particular, imagine going in there and trying to find a soldier. So generally what you'd have to do is look something up, get their plot location, grave number, row number, and, and start wandering your way.
Through the cemetery to find that and it's absolutely massive. Like some of these cemeteries are huge. Uh, Normandy, America's huge, um, Manila, it like is four or five times bigger. Yeah, it's a massive. Massive cemetery. So what's really important is being able to find the GPS locations of each of the graves.
And then we attach that to the name of the individual. So the process is we've developed the software that allows us to estimate the location of the the soldier. And because of the very. Systematic layout of the cemeteries. It's it becomes easier for us. It's not easy, but it's easier for us to be able to find those locations.
So we can get down to about 10 centimeter accuracy. And that really allows people. Yeah, you go into the app, you put the name in that you're looking for, select the individual and then you find on site and then your little blue dot. Can go right to to that, but it also allows us to create tours as well, which can take you from individual to individuals because many of these individuals, you know, their lives and their stories are entwined and it tells a greater story, really is why that geospatial location is so important because we start creating connection in a different way.
[Anastasia] So question about the, the tours. So they're tours that you create on your end, and then people on sites can go from person to person and learn their stories. Is that what it is?
[Ryan] So how we've actually created the company is we've created the software that will power the app, which allows Veterans Affairs organizations from around the world and different organizations to actually go into the back end of the app and put their information in.
And what's really nice about this is for tour functionality in particular. So once the soldiers are in there. The cemetery operator or the organization can go in and quickly put the tour together by just searching the names, clicking them in, and it links them into that tour. And you can set up a tour within.
Five minutes. and so if you knew, like the POWs in Manila, it's the boom, boom, boom. You put them in and it'll link them together as a tour, or perhaps you wanted to see Marines of Iwo Jima or, you know, whatever, whatever that is, you can just kind of put them in and you'll be able to. Well, it's really like connection.
These, these small pieces and these connections, can be. That's that's what we were as humans is so important is connection, like connection to each other, but connection to our history and connection to story. And when we can tell story, we're so much more connected rather than just information. And that's really, like, what we do.
We work with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and they tend to 1. 7Million soldiers graves. And the vast majority of information they have is like name, Data death rank, you know, service number and family. What we've been able to do is take that information using AI to actually give them a little bit more of a bio and then connect those to historic events and different things like that.
And then all of a sudden, what, from what we had is very sparse information is, a somewhat meaningful story, even if it's short, but connecting them to events and time and space. That's about giving the soldiers , their story back. Even in, even if it is just representative of their death, that does say a lot of what they gave their lives for.
[Anastasia] You're right on Ryan. It's the stories. It's the stories that connect us.
And if we can learn the stories of not just, not just our military people, but all our people, like there's just this connection, even though they've passed, there's some kind of strong connection knowing people's stories. So I am right there with you. with the tours, are they just on site or could you do it virtually?
Is that you, Matthew?
[Matthew] This is a key thing for us is that we have to be realistic about, how many folks, you know, for reasons of time, money, mobility, how many folks are going to get to these important places to these final resting places. And so that's why with the app, we, we try as best we can to balance that onsite interpretive experience, but also we want folks that are at home on the couch or in a classroom to still experience these stories.
So you can, you can boot up the app. It's available free forever. That's a key thing for us. and you can, you can search for Manila American cemetery, for example. And it's right there on your phone, and you can, you can look through those photos. And take those tours. we're seeing increased adoption across educational institutions, classrooms, students, they're using it on site, which is, which is fantastic.
It's kind of giving educators a reason and a tool that's just ready to go that they can, they can schedule that field trip, visit the cemetery. And there's something for those kids to do as they wander the rows that isn't hopping on Instagram. it's doing something good with that phone that's in their hands.
So we're thrilled to hear that. But in the classroom as well, really, really nice educational tool. we encourage any educator to reach out and let us know, ideas on ways to also improve this as an educational resource as well. because that's a huge reason why we exist is we want to connect the next generation with this history, because how could we forget it?
How shameful would that be?
[Anastasia] Can you tell us a little bit about how the app works?
[Ryan] Yeah. So the Memory Anchor Explorer app is two things. Basically it's a front end app. This is what the user will experience. And I'll explain those features. And then there's a backend, which our clients like the Veterans Affairs organizations use, and that's where they put the information in. And so the, once that information in, it goes to the app.
And so the app. Really is designed to bring those stories to people, and we're trying to reduce the barriers of getting the story. So it means that people can go into the app and search, they'll be able to search up the name. It'll sense where you are and.
Bring the closest graveyards to you. So list them based off of your proximity and say, if you were at Manila, what it will do is it'll be able to say you're at Manila. You can open Manila up, you can search anyone in there, you can look up their bio and you could press onsite.
And which means like, where are they on the site? And I'll show you and guide you exactly to their grave we have some AI voice technology that will read the bio out to you
this is a really exciting feature that we've recently put in. We have a form of AI that reads the gravestone. there's a lot of. Companies out there that put QR codes, little metal QR codes on, on headstones and people will scan them and then get the story challenge with that is it's very, the heart is in the right place.
But cemeteries don't want that on their graves, and you can imagine if you went to the Vietnam memorial, for example, and every soldier all of a sudden had a QR code pasted next to their, it takes away from the actual memorial. So what we've designed is an AI software. That reads the headstone or the name on the memorial wall and brings you the bio back to you.
So right now that is available on the app. Our next version is going to do and we're in production right now Where it actually reads it in real time and then presents you with the name and the picture as it's reading it And so that's really great for Memorial walls as you're scanning through the names.
So there's a variety of features that are all really designed to return the story to the individual and also present it in a way that's meaningful to the app user. Anything you want to add to that, Matt?
[Matthew] I think like what, what makes all this technology, meaningful for us has seen the adoption at some really notable, places, um, which is a huge honor, the commemoration community is small.
It's tight knit. Understandably. So these stories and places are are sacred. And that's the treatment that we aim to bring to it, you know, from the, the digital realm. And so it's really inspiring to see how these war graves agencies and other, cultural organizations, nonprofits are, um, increasingly open to kind of, you know, modernizing the experience because they get it.
They see the digital tools as ways to add an additional interpretive layer in digital. It can break down barriers for folks. it can, you know, improve accessibility for folks who have challenges with sites. Like, we recently announced a project, the first world war site called the Vimy Ridge Memorial, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, um, which is a symbol for Canada.
it's, it's been on our passport for years on our money. It's a, it's a huge honor. And in a lot of ways, the full circle project for us, you know, our company was founded on a pilgrimage to this place. Um, so it's, it's a real honor to, you know, there's 11, 000 names on this memorial. And, when the project launches, next year, You know, all those names will be scannable in real time as you walk the wall. so as you're walking, you're giving faces to those names and stories to those names for the very first time. I mean, you could sit there and you could Google each name and wait for every profile to load. but it's right there. It pops up. as you go and, yeah, so it's really special to see, um, see the, I guess, acceptance into that community to see that we're here to help.
We're here to, extend that experience. you know, there's over, like, looking to D Day 80 and Liberation 80, like, in 2024, 2025, there's huge 80th anniversaries coming, In Europe, there's over 50, 000 allied burials that we've added with biographies, and some of these service numbers have been geolocated for the very first time in our app the technology has really caught the vision, there's a couple of cool projects to talk about , the Manila American cemetery is one that we're also quite excited about. such a consequential place. and as, as we have talked about, it's largely forgotten. we had a team member actually on site, 7 days ago.
He walked the site. It's a big place. It's a it's a big place. It is. It is tough. to find folks. And so if we can be a part , of helping people find folks that that means everything to us.
[Anastasia] Well, that's that's cool. So something about Manila American Cemetery. I don't know if you guys know, but it's built on top of the old Fort McKinley, which was a U.S. Fort there. So, perhaps many of the men who are buried there were actually stationed there before. The war started,
[Ryan] that's interesting, because as I was mapping it out, there was some interesting geography to to it. And I was really curious as to some of the rises and ditches that I was seeing in the cemetery.
And I wonder if that might be some of the remnants of the fort actually. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. I didn't know that.
[Anastasia] So with D Day 80 coming up and that's June 6th of this year, I believe you guys have something special going on with that. .
[Ryan] Yeah. we have a lot of special things going on. One of the things Matt and I And one of the things that we really are so honored to be part of is we're working with the best Defense Foundation, and they're bringing over 50 American soldiers back to Normandy, who had fought during that campaign.
And we're able to sponsor one of those. Soldiers to go back over. And I mean, the average age of these guys is going from 98 to 104. And so they have a lot of partners, Delta, you know, they're getting, they're getting these men over there and we're just. Really, really honored to be able to help them and further to that offer the software for these veterans to be able to navigate to the cemeteries, which will increase the speed for them to find people, but also potentially give them the opportunity to see and hear the story of people they knew.
And that they served with and that was really the dream at the very beginning is that we want some of these veterans to know that they will be remembered and remembered in new ways. There's this kind of analogy of the torch passing the torch from generation to generation. And. Matt and I really believe that that torch can be brightened as we pass it because the fear has always been that it's fading and we really think with technology and the ability to communicate stories, tell stories like you're doing is we can brighten that torch as we pass it.
So that's. That one piece, that we're really excited on top of the fact that we've put into the app almost every major site in Normandy. How many soldiers, Matt? do you remember offhand that we got out there?
[Matthew] It's it's over 50, 000. It might be over 60, 000 now.
[Ryan] Yeah, and so we've geolocated all of those soldiers and added their smart bios, added any pictures that we have available to us and tours, and in partnership with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, there's major events happening.
Both, you know, we've done the Normandy American, which is about 10, 000, I believe, and then Bernays Summaire, Bayeux Cemeteries, so this is the Bernays Summaire being the Canadian military cemetery, about 2, 000 Canadians there, over to Bayeux, which has British and Canadian and other Commonwealth cemeteries, countries, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and there's going to be major events happening there and thousands of people out there, and we're hoping to get the word out to as many people as we can that the software is available, whether you're there or at home, you're going to be able to have that, that experience.
So we've been working really hard over the last few months at building those partnerships. And getting the information in the app and constantly developing new technology to make it even better. So for the 80th, we're doing that, and then that's the 80th of the Normandy, but then we have the liberation of Holland.
We have victory in Europe and also victory in Pacific, which is often forgotten. And hopefully with partnering with the right people, we can get more and more information up in the app. And bring more light to those stories of the Pacific. And it's an area that's just so much harder to get to. So at least what we can do is bring it back and hopefully, you know, we have our eyes on Pearl Harbor.
It'd be great to do something out there and the cemeteries there that capture some of that campaign as well.
[Anastasia] A lot of veterans and even people who died during wars and battles, they have been brought home and buried in local cemeteries. So if my great grandfather, for example, is buried in a non veterans cemetery or cemetery, even a veteran cemetery, that's not on your app, can I upload that information myself,
[Matthew] we're so thrilled to see kind of a movement, with all of the Veterans Affairs agencies that we're talking to today. towards, I guess, modernizing, like, how, we approach this.
so we're seeing, you know, in America, the Veterans Affairs has launched this great platform called the Veterans Legacy Memorial. and they are adding So much to that site. and it's inspiring to see the growth, where, you know, I think in the last 8 to 12 months, they've added something like 5 million profiles of veterans.
And many of those are are buried. Uh, are the veteran burials in private cemeteries. Um, so they've really done a lot to move the needle in terms of that. and so they, they will add the profiles. And then families can upload their tributes stories, documents, to those portals. and you know, it's gonna be there forever, , so if you have a family member, yeah, if I could encourage you to just do one thing, you know, maybe there's a special anniversary coming up or an event, you're trying to find a place for those memories, if you want to share, you know, with the next generation, those platforms are perfect for it.
Yeah. Consider submitting those family stories, those photographs to those platforms for safekeeping. , I encourage folks to think about it just as an act of service. Like it's continue in the spirit of their service that, you know, for country, I think it's really special.
That's the flow is that the information comes from the families, it goes to the government, and then they kind of are looking at it.
Did they really earn a medal of honor? Did they really earn a Victoria Cross? It goes through the filter a little bit, like, within reason. I think they're very practical in how they approach this. It goes onto the platform and it's there forever. and then the next step is, is for that information then to get mirrored into the mobile applications so that the public can walk the rows and they can see those family submitted stories and those family submitted photographs, which I think is so special, that we can see that process end to end.
And we're there with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, where there's a process now, with the American federal government, you know, we would love to get there.
[Anastasia] Yeah, that would be amazing. Where can listeners find and download the app and tell us the name one more time?
[Matthew] The app is called Memory Anchor Explorer. So open that app store, whether on iOS or Android, and type in Memory Anchor Explorer, it's available.
[Ryan] 1 of the things is just remember, it's a free download, like that was part of what. Matt and I, as we were looking like, how do we make this a sustainable, meaningful company? And 1 of the things that we wanted to make sure is that there was never a paywall between the end user, the person who wanted to commemorate their loved 1 or anyone.
There's not going to be a paywall between them and the actual story of that soldier. So don't worry if that is free free forever is what we say.
[Anastasia] So Ryan and Matthew, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Is there any last things that people should know about what you're doing?
[Ryan] You know, word of mouth is, is the best thing. If this is something you're inspired by, download it, check it out and, and tell people about it.
At the end of the day, we built this company because we wanted to share those stories. And the best way to share those stories is when. People tell others about the software and allow them to access and get that and we're constantly growing and getting bigger and more and more all the time. There's a lot of momentum to that.
And so we're adding more and more and more.
[Matthew] And I, I think as well, like with, with everything you're doing, Anastasia and then also with Memorial day coming up, you know, if you're feeling inspired by this conversation, things we talked about, for example, at Manila American, or if it's getting close to the D Day loading up Normandy American, like load up the app.
Find a story that you resonate with and spend time with that story. Maybe consider sharing it with a friend or a family member or on social media. sharing, transmitting these stories, keeps their memories alive.
[Anastasia] Because when it comes down to it, it's all about keeping their memories alive. Yeah.
Well, thank you again for your time. And, I'm going to go open the app and see what I can find.
[Ryan] We'll see you on there. Okay. Thanks. Thanks. Thank you.

Isn’t it just amazing what these men are doing
As you may know, I’m commemorating Memorial Day all month, with episodes – like this one – focused on remembering the fallen.
The Memory Anchor app is available for free wherever you download mobile apps. So I hope you’ll join me in downloading and exploring the various cemeteries Memory Anchor has been working to add.
And just a quick note, we chatted quite a bit about the Manila American Cemetery. As you heard, it’s a cemetery they just recently mapped. So, it’s not as robust as the cemeteries in Normandy, which have been mapped and finished already.
But I’ve worked with Ryan and Matthew to add images and names of some men I’ve highlighted on Left Behind who are buried or memorialized there, such as:
- Lynn Weeman (episode 26)
- James Booher (episode 7)
- Francis Bridget (episode 13)
- Noel Castle (episode 44)
- James Gallagher (episode 27)
- Don Robins (episode 4)
- Norman Thenell (episode 32)
- Walter Wernher (episode 41)
Well, that’s Left Behind the Scenes for today. Be sure to like and subscribe so that you’re the first to know when I drop next week’s episode – which tells the story of 4 young men who attempted to escape the Cabanatuan POW camp mere days after arriving there.
Have a remembrance-filled week.
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