Normandy: Then and Now

Airborne Veteran's medals

Airborne Forces veterans gathering in Normandy for the 65th Anniversary commemorations will be able to tell their story and record wartime memories on ParaData.
A team from Airborne Assault will attend the commemoration events at Pegasus Memorial and Ranville and demonstrate the online archive to those veterans attending the weekend events.

The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces served with distinction on D-Day on 6th June 1944. British Airborne parachute drops and glider landings were used to secure the eastern flank and protect the Normandylanding beaches from enemy bombardment and ground attack by reinforcing troops.

Airborne landings used the cover of night to mount surprise attacks on key objectives ahead of the seaborne invasion. Celebrated actions included the assault on the Merville Battery, whose guns were trained on the invasion beaches, and the glider-borne coup de main operation led by Major John Howard. This successfully captured the canal bridge now known as PegasusBridge, where a memorial and museum stand today. Gliders landed only a few hundred yards away from the bridge. These actions were immortalised in the film The Longest Day.