NORMANDY D-Day 80
Standing with Giants installed a staggering 1,475 silhouettes across the wild meadow fields of the British Normandy Memorial called ‘For Your Tomorrow’. The 1,475 giants reflect the number of servicemen who died serving under British command on D-Day itself. Hundreds of thousands of visitors saw thi installation at The British Normandy Memorial , in Ver-sur-Mer, France as part of the D-Day 80 commemorations from 21st April 2024 - 31st August 2024. The tribute was then be shipped back to the UK and will be displayed at
National Trust Stowe Gardens from 1st October - 11th November 2024.
Creating the Normandy Installation - image gallery
Transporting the Giants from Oxfordshire to Normandy (via Fort Nelson, Portsmouth) with the help of over 200 Remembrance Day Riders - image gallery
Installing the Normandy display - image gallery
Normandy Memorial Installation - image gallery
The public supported the project and the memorial by sponsoring a plaque for £150 positioned in front of the giants in honour of a loved one. The tribute plaques will remain on the Memorial site for a period of at least 5 years.
1,475 giant silhouettes, in honour of the servicemen who fell on D-Day itself, began their journey from Oxfordshire to the British Normandy Memorial, which overlooks Gold Beach where many of them landed almost 80 years ago.
This ambitious and captivating project saw the meadow fields within the Memorial campus filled with silhouettes of servicemen representing the three military services, each standing just under two metres tall. Alongside these, the project installed bespoke ‘giants’ to represent the only two women on the Memorial, nurses Sisters Evershed and Field, who died while saving 75 men from a sinking hospital ship; and 50 French resistance fighters, placed beside the French Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer. These silhouettes have remained in place.
Harley Davidson Riders, crossed the Channel with Brittany Ferries, embarked at Portsmouth Harbour after visiting Blenheim Palace and Fort Nelson for morning and afternoon ceremonies.
The lorries carried 18 stillages created and designed by Standing with Giants that transported the silhouettes. The bases of the stillages have been decorated with a total of 22,442 knitted poppies (made and donated by The Women’s Institute nationwide) representing the total number of fallen service personnel on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy combined.
Standing with Giants worked closely with the Normandy Memorial Trust who selected real letters from fallen servicemen of the Normandy Campaign. Standing with Giants has included these on each of their stillages, supporting the Trust’s unique research project by sharing the personal stories behind the names engraved on the Memorial.
The giants were installed from 6 April and took about 30 volunteers approximately two weeks to complete the process. They were displayed until 31st August 2024 before being dismantled with the assistance from Standing with Giants volunteers , staff from BAE Systems who were taking part in their companies charity and local ex-pat Normandy residents, to whom we are very grateful for their help and support.
Normandy Memorial
The British Normandy Memorial records the names of the 22,442 servicemen and women under British command who fell on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944. This includes people from more than 30 different countries. Inscribed in stone. The site also includes a French Memorial, dedicated to the memory of French civilians who died during this time.
Getting involved
We invited groups/organisations of 8-15 people to visit our new workshop in Oxfordshire and become part of this incredible story by helping us in creating ‘The People's Tribute'. Please click the link below for more information.
Travelling to Normandy
We left for Normandy on Friday 5th April 2024 from Blenheim Palace in a convoy of four lorries carrying x18 stillages housing the entire installation and equipment required to make it happen with poppies displayed at the base of stillage crates, crocheted and knitted by WI (National Federation of Women's Institutes).. The convoy also stopped at Fort Nelson in Portsmouth before heading off to the ferry.
Volunteer groups
The Normandy 80 installation has been painted and assembled by 80 teams and groups invited from all walks of life, including military personnel, veterans, Harley Davidson remembrance riders, women’s institute members, NHS workers, school children, scouts, office teams, business supporters, choirs and music groups, to name just few.
POPPIES OF HOPE
Standing with Giants enlisted the help of The WI (National Federation of Women's Institutes). A long term friend of Standing with Giants and Secretary of Apple Blossoms WI, Kingston Bagpuize, Toni Briggs, took on the task to encourage her fellow WI colleagues to start knitting and crocheting poppies so Standing with Giants could attach them to the base plinths of our packing stillages/crates transported our soldier silhouettes to Normandy and beyond for future installations. WI colleagues up and down the country knitted and crocheted the poppies needed and sent them to Toni who countied and recorded each one received.
A massive thank you to all WI members who are got involved with this aspect of the project. The base plinths look incredible:
Our ethos at Standing with Giants is to value life, to understand and appreciate why we have our freedom, and to remember and pay tribute to those who have fallen so we can live the lives we have today. Our installations are a great way of using art to do this. We call our silhouettes Giants due to the enormity of their sacrifice, so that others can have their freedom. Although Dan and his team started with a zero budget, they have enlisted many volunteers and companies who have donated materials and logistics towards the thirty-ton installation. They invited many different groups and organisations to help paint and assemble The People’s Tribute called ‘For Your Tomorrow’ by April 2024. The installation took 20-30 people around 15 days to set up: it’s truly epic. Dan Barton, Founder and Chair of Trustees has set this whole project up so others can get involved: he and volunteers have been making the components for the figures over the past 4 years and during January 2024 - March 2024 we welcomed 87 groups and organisations to help assemble and paint ‘The People’s Tribute’. “We’ve just set up a new workspace and I’m praying we find some funding from somewhere; it will really help take some of the pressure off with our endeavour”.
Eight of the 1,475 silhouettes due to be transported to Normandy were exhibited on 9 November outside the Royal Albert Hall at the launch of the anniversary concert held on 6th June 2024