Marking the 77th Anniversary of D-Day
D-Day — June 6, 1944 — witnessed the largest seaborne invasion in history, as Allied soldiers representing Britain, Canada, the United States, and the Free French made a surprise landing on the shores of Northern France. By the end of the day, nearly 175,000 Allied soldiers had either parachuted into France or landed on one of five beaches of the Normandy coast. Operation Overlord — and Operation Neptune as the amphibious assault was codenamed — proved to be a vital turning point in World War II as Allied forces pushed the Germans off the Atlantic coast and began the march to Germany.
On the 77th anniversary, D-Day still represents a prominent place in the memory of America’s role in World War II. D-Day + 75 explores the events of Operation Overlord from an American perspective, but there could have been no Allied success without the joint efforts of the British, Canadian, and Free French troops. The Allied victory over Nazi Germany in May 1945 was the result of great coordination and cooperation, but that success came at a cost. Allied forces suffered heavy casualties on D-Day and in the weeks and months to follow, with American losses estimated in the thousands on the beaches of Normandy alone. D-Day proved to be the beginning of the final phase of the war in Europe, and this exhibit aims to highlight a small piece of this great story as we remember the battle seventy-five years later.
In recognition of this anniversary, we invite you to revisit our past exhibit, "D-Day +75," which focused on D-Day and the planning and logistics required for a successful push towards Germany.
