Town says ‘merci encore’ to Allied liberators

WELCOME Heroes. Thank you for liberty. Thank you once more. Merci encore.

The banners and posters, T-shirts and memorial cards welcoming the D-Day veterans were on every shopfront, house and sausage stall in Sainte Mere Eglise as the town, the first to be liberated by Allied forces, celebrated the 60th anniversary of that event.

News that the American parachutists had taken the town spread quickly despite the chaos on the landing beaches and provided a vital boost to morale in those early, anxious hours.