The genesis of the mission
Created by Raymond Triboulet in 1945, the mission of the D-Day Committee was to commemorate June 6, 1944. On June 6, 1945, less than a month after the end of the conflict in Europe, the first anniversary of D-Day was celebrated on the Normandy coast. The deep scars of war had already been softened by nature or were gradually being erased by human hands. However, on the beach at Saint-Côme-de-Fresné, near Arromanches, many people gathered to commemorate the events of the previous year. 600 Allied soldiers and diplomats, along with thousands of French people, participated in an impressive D-Day ceremony.
The centerpiece is a wooden altar. In the distance, the damaged breakwaters of the artificial harbor "Mulberry B" can be seen. A British naval guard of honor presents arms; eleven Mosquito planes fly over the beach in salute form; and the Royal Marines' bugle players play the Last Post.
The ceremony was organized by Raymond Triboulet, Sub-Prefect of Bayeux and founding President of the Landing Committee. It was the first in a series of ceremonies organized since 1945. He was a visionary man who, as early as 1945, understood the importance of commemorations in the decades to come.
The missions of the Landing Committee
Today, the Landing Committee has three main missions:
- Perpetuate the memory of all fighters
- Through museums and places of remembrance. Since its creation, the Committee has always worked in this direction, notably with the creation of the Landing Museum in Arromanches in 1954, then that of the Pegasus Memorial in Bénouville in 1974 and then in Ranville in 2000.
- Commemorating the anniversaries of the landing
- Through ceremonies. Indeed, the association has organized a ceremony every year since 1945. Since 2006, a children's ceremony has also been held on the same dates to highlight Norman youth in the memorial.
- Supporting actions, places and memorial projects
- Indeed, the Landing Committee funded and supported numerous projects. To name just one: the coastal lighting for the 80th anniversary, where the Committee funded a third of the fireworks.
