THE LONGEST DAY TURNS 85
D-DAY 1944, FROM ENGLAND TO NORMANDY
Jun. 1-9, 2029
Overview
THE LONGEST DAY TURNS 85: D-DAY 1944, FROM ENGLAND TO NORMANDY
June 1-9, 2029
This fully guided and immersive tour will explore the people and places of Operation OVERLORD, the June 1944 invasion of Normandy that began Europe’s liberation from Nazi rule. We will walk the beaches and cliffs, learn from local experts and our own full-time historian, and experience the planning and control from London and England and follow the operations from the Norman beaches to the Allied breakout.
Long before they launched across the Channel, the Allies transformed Great Britain into a vast armed camp, with millions of soldiers, sailors and airmen poised to assault Hitler’s Fortress Europa. We begin in London, examining the War Rooms of Winston Churchill’s Cabinet along with centuries of history and culture in the capital of the British Empire. We will also visit the grounds of Bletchley Park where, secret for decades, the ULTRA codebreakers worked tirelessly for allied victory. In Cambridge, we will pay respects at the beautiful American Cemetery, where airmen and seamen are commemorated, as well as Duxford Airfield, where British and American fighter planes were based in the war and is now home to the largest air museum in Britain. A night in Royal Windsor, in the shadow of the Castle, caps our day. Then, it’s off to Portsmouth on the Channel coast to discuss seaborne preparations and visit the invasion headquarters of Dwight Eisenhower. From there we board the large, modern MV Mont St Michel for the crossing to the beaches of France!
The events of June 6, 1944, continue to inspire long after the guns have fallen silent. The largest invasion in history, on the isolated Normandy coast, drastically altered the conduct of the war and demonstrated the unflinching resolve of freedom-loving peoples. This D-Day tour will bring guests to the beaches, cliffs and fields; and villages, towns and cities where the Greatest Generation made their most indelible mark. From British glidermen at Pegasus Bridge, to the American infantrymen assaulting the beaches at Bloody Omaha; from American paratroopers jumping behind enemy lines at Ste Mere Eglise and Brecourt Manor to the Rangers climbing the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc to the building of the artificial harbors at Arromanches. We will also see the Operation COBRA breakout at its beginnings at St Lo and Avranches, and at its closing at famed Mont Ormel. And so many other iconic sites.
Since it is the 85th anniversary commemoration year, we will also have the privilege of participating in some of the ceremonies and other activities, including reenactments and airborne drops and seeing, up-close, planes, tanks, vehicles and other equipment.
The WWII tour unfolds over nine days and eight nights with stories of all the Allied participants as well as those of the German defenders. In addition, EHE guests will also visit two World Heritage treasure sites – William the Conqueror’s Bayeux Tapestry and the magical island of Mont St Michel and its amazing abbey. The rich, verdant farmland, the quaint villages and the dramatic cliffs and coasts create an incredibly memorable backdrop for this Normandy, France tour.
all normandy expedition dates
$1,000 per person
