DDAY 78th Anniversary

After two years without any massive attending because of the covid crisis, Univem is back in Normandy for the 78th Anniversary of the Allied landings! Besides the Jeep Willys and Dodges WCs, the association brought 2 Half-Track, a GMC DUKW, a GMC CCKW dump truck, and the International M425! Every of these heavy vehicles but the Half-Track came by their own means! Unfortunately, the M425 got a flat tire on the road. We managed to find a truck workshop to repair it. Eventually, the convoy arrived in Vierville-sur-Mer a bit late, but the camp site was installed before the heavy rain of the night.

 

Contrary to past years, most of our group was in the camp of the Vierville-sur-Mer D-Day Museum. A lot of displays received positive feedback from the public.

 

On the afternoon of the 4th June, a convoy was organised in the nearby countryside. Unfortunately upon arriving, the rain came back…

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On the 5th June, we attended the ceremony at the National Guard Monument, in front of Omaha Beach. With the recent arrivial of young members in our association, an improvement has been made on uniforms, it now looks like a real platoon!

 

We then attended another ceremony at the Big Red One monument in Colleville-sur-Mer.

 

After we organised rides in our vehicules for the spectators, we got the chance to ride on the sea with the DUKW of Jeep Village!

 

On the 6th June, we were on Omaha Beach at 6:30. It is always an emotional time.

 

In the afternoon, we again organised some rides in the vehicles for the public. Again, huge success.

 

Tuesday morning, it was already time to set off, after a weekend full of memories.