80TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY COIN - Pegasus Bridge - EDITION 2024 - MONNAIE DE PARIS

Diameter 34 mm

Metal METAL COMMON

Weight 15.8 g

Production run 10000

Year 2024

Face value €0.25

To mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, La Monnaie de Paris is minting a collection paying tribute to the soldiers of the various Allied nations. Through 4 singular destinies, French commandos, British airborne soldiers and American and Canadian infantrymen are honored in this historic collection. 

Richard, a British Glider with the Airlanding Brigade, was part of the 6th Airborne (British and Canadian). He landed on the night of June 6, 1944, in a glider east of Sword Beach. Here he poses in front of Pegasus Bridge after the successful completion of Operation Deadstick. The glider in which he landed is in the background under the trees.

On the night of June 5-6, 1944, during Operation Tonga, units of the 6th Division were the first to fight in the Normandy landings. They were dropped by glider and parachuted behind Sword Beach to secure the eastern flank of the Allied landing zone. Their objectives included the capture of Pegasus Bridge and the bridge over the River Orne, as well as the destruction of the Merville battery - all of which were achieved. Operation Tonga continued with the parachuting of further divisional units to hold the sector and counter German counter-offensives.

The reverse of these coins depicts a spiral of all the Allied nations that took part in the landings, whether on land, sea or in the air. The stars under the flags are also a tribute to the "Voie de la liberté", the milestones marking the route followed by the 3rd American Army in liberating France as far as Luxembourg.