On Tuesday 6 June, the 79th anniversary of D-Day was marked at the Memorial with a morning service organised by the Royal British Legion, and later with the international ceremony, both of which were attended by Normandy Veterans, dignitaries and the general public.
The Chairman of Trustees, Lord Richard Dannatt, appointed D-Day Veteran Jack Quinn as Memorial Ambassador. Jack joins fellow Veterans Stan Ford, Ken Hay and Mervyn Kersh, all of whom also attended events at the Memorial across 5 and 6 June. D-Day Veteran Ken Benbow, who visited the Memorial for the first time, made a special address at the international ceremony. He also met Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and his French counterpart, Sébastien Lecornu.
Memorial Ambassadors: Mervyn Kersh meets French school children on 5 June and Ken Hay MBE reads his poem 'When You Go Home' at the morning service on 6 June.
Lord Richard Dannatt presents Veteran Jack Quinn with a certificate appointing him a Memorial Ambassador
President Macron meets Henry Rice, Jack Quinn, and Gilbert Clarke at the official opening of the Musée de Débarquement in Arromanches
On the eve of the anniversary, the Memorial appeared on ITV as part of the documentary, 'Vicky McClure: My Grandad's War'. Vicky's grandfather, 97-year-old Ralph, visited the Memorial last year and his moving experience of seeing it for the first time is captured in the programme. Ralph and Vicky also kindly filmed their conversations at the Memorial for the Trust, and we share them on our website as part of the 79th anniversary commemorations.
The Trust has commissioned a special replica model of the D-Day sculpture to mark the 80th Anniversary of D-Day next year. The model is a high-quality bronze resin that stands at 11 inches tall. It will be available to purchase through the online shop from November 2023. The cost to purchase is £180 plus £10 P&P via tracked delivery to the UK. Postage for other countries will be calculated at check-out when the order is placed online. If you are interested in buying a model, please contact us at contact@britishnormandymemorial.org and we will notify you as soon as they become available in the online shop.
This summer, visitors to the British Normandy Memorial will be able to visit our ‘on site’ shop and visitor information centre.
The shop hosts a wide range of merchandise from polo shirts, mugs, pin badges and more. The proceeds of all sales support the maintenance costs of the Memorial. Some items are also available at our online shop. In partnership with Gold Beach Tourist office, visitors can book guided tours of the Memorial at the shop and gain further information about other points of interest in the local area. The shop is now open until 11 June and will re-open from 8 July to 3 September. For further information please contact Julie on julie.verne@normandymemorialtrust.org.
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The British Normandy Memorial has been constructed thanks to the generosity of the public, from school children to pensioners who backed the campaign with their own fundraising initiatives and donations; as well as the immensely generous support of the British Government.
The Trust now needs funding to ensure that the Memorial will be maintained to a fitting standard so that generations to come will be able to visit and remember the immense sacrifice made by the 22,442 people honoured on the Memorial.
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Normandy Memorial Trust
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