Tour Guide, Normandy, France
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This memorial, chosen by the veterans, stands at the top of Mont-Fleuri and offers an extraordinary view of the beach where many assault troops landed on June 6, 1944.
Indeed, at 07:25 on the morning of June 6, 1944, British forces landed on Gold Beach, one of the three beaches where the British were involved, the other two being Sword and Juno, a Canadian sector under British command. After the beaches were neutralized, the British forces moved inland to take control of the German battery at Mont Fleury. Despite two hours of incessant firing by the Allied armada, this battery did not suffer any major damage.
It was a company platoon leader, Stan Hollis of the 6th Green Howards, who single-handedly took this fortified point. For this heroic action, he was the only one to receive the highest British military award, the Victoria Cross, on D-Day.
A pure architectural style in a fascinating natural environment
A few hundred meters from the ruins of the old battery, the Memorial near Arromanches, famous for its port, is the work of architect Liam O'Connor, who wanted to make it a carefully designed place where stone, sculptures and vegetation meet.
The Memorial is a central courtyard measuring 160 meters long and 59 meters wide, surrounded by limestone columns from Burgundy and supporting an oak pergola structure parallel to the ocean. The names of 22,442 Commonwealth servicemen (soldiers, sailors, airmen) who died under British command and French civilians are engraved in the stone columns.
Opposite him stands the D-Day sculpture by David Williams-Ellis representing a group of 3 soldiers in bronze with Gold Beach and its marshes in the background. In addition, stone steles are spread over the 18 hectares of the site and retrace the main dates and operations of the Battle of Normandy.
In short, a place to remember, reflect and honour the memory of our liberators.