D-Day 50th Anniversary Souvenirs

[Gildwiller1918]

I was going through some of my items, ran across some 50th Anniversary of the Normandy Landings. Back in 1994, I was in a re-enactment group based out of Germany, mainly consisting of US military members and civilians. We requested permission (6 months out) to be part of the ceremonies that would be held on the 50th anniversary. We arrived a week before the actual ceremony date on June 6th, in between touring around the area in a Willys Jeep backseat (which is not as uncomfortable as you may think), we would assist veterans at the cemeteries to find their friends and fallen comrades. That was a great experience, hearing the stories from the veterans, what they went through. The U.S.S. Normandy was anchored off Omaha beach and early in the morning on the 6th of June, they stamped all of these US stamp sets. They were given out to all the attendees of the ceremonies at the Colleville-sur-Mer cemetery, which had many heads of state, hence the security clearance, my badge for the event is included. I also was in the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, were we invited to stay in the Belgian Army Barracks in Bastogne, as re-enactors we did parades and re-enacted the events from 1944, my official badge for that event is also listed.