D-DayMuseum 15th June 2023
  

Sat nav set we headed off for Southsea for the D-Day Museum, however the sat nav took us on a most interesting route through and round Portsmouth although but we did get there in plenty of time to meet everybody, 18 of us, by the entrance. Since 2018, when the museum was extensively refurbished with a £5 million Heritage Lottery grant, it is now called the D-Day Story and the story it tells is of operation Overlord and the Normandy D-Day Landings .
So after a cup of tea Me(Robin) Karen and Bob headed off for the 272 foot Overlord Embroidery that tells the story of the D-Day landings, it is housed in a circular building that looks like it was specially built for the display and its was quite fascinating. Karen was especially interested as she does a little bit of embroidery herself.
Following that we had the Lunch provided, sandwiches sausage rolls and a piece of cake and plenty of drinks. It was a hot day 26-27c so drinks were very welcome. The second part of the museum tour were the displays of the wartime equipment used, vehicles, ration books, short wave radios, small arms and a number of short informative films that explained the story.
Other major exhibits include a Sherman tank and a Churchill tank, both displayed on the tank deck of the newly restored D-Day landing craft, the last one surviving. Other vehicles in the collection are a Sherman Beach armoured recovery vehicle (BARV) and a DUKW also known as the Duck, an amphibious vehicle. In addition there was a replica infantry landing craft as part of an audio-visual display. A very interesting day indeed and many thanks to Gill for organising.
Cheers Robin and Karen