ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Pieces of wood sitting in a St. Petersburg wood shop don’t look like much — they’re worn, and they aren’t even level on their sides.

But those imperfections paint the picture of what these inanimate objects have seen over the years, and Christopher Kelley is one of the artists that tells their story.

What You Need To Know

  • Pieces of wood from a barn near Omaha Beach are being reclaimed in Florida

  • A local wood reclamation company has been able to salvage wood that was damaged from a windstorm in Normandy and bring them back to the U.S. to sell to clients or give to other organizations

  • The purpose is to continue to tell the stories of D-Day through these types of objects that were in those places during historic events

“It was like it was meant to be,” said Kelley, a co-founder of Three Forks Wood Reclamation.

Three Forks goes around the globe to find old wood with a story to reclaim them for clients, museums and nonprofits.

These pieces of wood were part of a lengthy search just off Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.

“We scoured the area and came across a barn that was built in 1792 that just suffered damage in a windstorm,” Kelley said.

The barn, Kelley says, was in the town of Colombieres, about 10 miles from where allied troops went ashore on June 6, 1944 — a day better known as D-Day.

“It was the first home that was liberated in this town right after the invasion,” Kelley said.

Not only that, but it was a rallying point for the 29th Infantry, which was continuing its journey to fight the Germans.

Kelley and his partner, Christian Knutzen, met the farmer, who was a French veteran, and was able to reclaim this wood that he was planning on burning before rebuilding the barn.

And now, after a long boat ride, it’s in St. Pete.

“All these years, you know, centuries of history that these beams have seen," Kelley said. "You know ... for lack of a better term, it just it’s just amazing.” Kelley said.

What they’ve seen is portrayed in the stories Kelley and Knutzen tell when they find wood like this.

Those stories, Knutzen said, is what matters most.

“This will probably be our only connection to that history is through wood,” said Knutzen, the other founder of Three Forks.

They’ve brought back much of the wood from the barn already, but through the friendship they formed, that farmer got them in touch with another farmer who gave them wood from Marmion Farm — the same farm where the paratroopers depicted in the HBO show, “Band of Brothers,” landed.

“When you see these guys standing in front of the very barn that we were able to get the wood pieces from, you can make that connection as you touch it, as you look at it, as you are next to it,” Knutzen said.

Kelley and Knutzen plan to deliver that wood from Marmion Farm to the Currahee Military Museum in Georgia, where paratroopers trained before heading to France on D-Day.