France
The D-Day Battlefields
UTAH Beach Museum
*Page under construction*
The focal point for commemoration at UTAH Beach is the UTAH Beach Museum, a fitting tribute to the military personnel who participated in Operation Overlord. The original Museum on this site, built around a German blockhouse known as WN5, opened in 1962 but was expanded in 1994. (LINK)*
Then, in June 2011 it was completely renovated and greatly enlarged with a new 1,000 sq meter hall and a hangar to house one of the last surviving B-26 Marauders, named ‘Dinah Might’. The designer of the project, architect Nicholas Keleman, has succeeded in harmonising the buildings with the dunes using natural light and making it a highly memorable ‘visitor experience’ in keeping with the subject matter.
The UTAH Beach Museum is one of several must-see attractions for anyone interested in the history of the Landings with many of the well-spaced and illuminated attractions easy to photograph. In addition to the superbly restored Marauder, there are several military vehicles including a German Goliath disposable tracked mine, artillery pieces and a landing craft.
The collection of smaller exhibits is also remarkable with many at the centre of personal tales from those who took part in the invasion. The high-definition documentary movie presentation `Victory in the Sand` is also worth watching.
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An original `Higgins Boat LCVP landing craft *
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The Goliath was a small wire-guided, tracked `mine-carrier` that contained 220lbs of explosives. twelve of these weapons were discovered at strongpint WN.5 on UTAH Beach but the bombing of the area had disrupted their command systems. Only 7,564 were manufacture due to their high production costs.
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outside exhibits /memorials *
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