D-DAY 80th anniversary - Juno Beach - Proof yeardate - 10€ silver France 2024
 
To mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, Monnaie de Paris is minting a collection paying tribute to the soldiers of the four major Allied nations. Through four singular destinies, French commandos, British airborne troops and American and Canadian infantrymen are honored in this historic collection. 
 
Fred, a lieutenant with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, nicknamed the "Little Black Devils", is a member of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. He landed on Sword Beach at Graye, near Courseulles. He poses in front of the beach, where we can see a Churchill AVRE tank, two soldiers from his unit holding the Canadian flag of the time, and a traditional house from the Côte de Nacre landscape.
 
Part of the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, the Royal Winnipeg Rifles were among the first Allied troops to land along the northern coast of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and participated throughout the Normandy campaign, fighting in numerous battles including Caen and the Falaise gap.
 
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 Liberty Road, the milestones marking the route taken by the 3rd American Army to liberate France, as far as Luxembourg.
 
The Collection
The D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 were a decisive turning point in the Second World War: the Liberation of France and Europe began on the beaches of Normandy. 80 years on, the Monnaie de Paris is paying tribute to the nations and men who took part in the liberation of France and Europe.
 
To mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, we had to find an original artistic approach.
 
Previous anniversaries had been celebrated with rather allegorical coins bringing together all the forces in one creation; this year, we have chosen to follow 4 singular destinies through this incredible human adventure that was the D-Day.