D-Day Memorial

 

This statue of Nike (Victory) was once a war memorial in the small French village of Trévières. It was damaged by artillery and tank rounds during the invasion. Th statue was donated by Guy Wildenstein, a French-American billionaire art dealer, and racehorse owner and breeder.

A gift to the National D-Day Memorial,
the City of Bedford,
and to the nation,
from Guy Wildenstein and his family.
With our eternal gratitude
to the United States of America
for liberating France,
providing shelter to our parents
and putting an end to the extermination of an entire people.
In memory
of the fallen American soldiers
on the beaches of Normandy
in June 1944.

 

The Overlord Arch. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy. The arch's height of 44' 6" represents the date June 6, 1944. The black and white stripes represent the alternating stripes that made Allied Aircraft easily identifiable. The flags represent the twelve Allied nations, with the United States on the left, then in alphabetical order, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

 

 

The Necrology Walls list the names of 4,415 Allied service personnel who died during the invasion. The 2,502 Americans are listed on one side; the 1,913 Allies on the other.