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Key figures

Origin and history

The Utah Beach Landing Museum was founded in 1962 by Michel de Vallavieille, Mayor of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, to honour the American soldiers who landed on this beach on June 6, 1944. Located at the exact location of the landing, it exhibits historical objects, including a B-26 Marauder bomber, and traces in ten sequences the allied strategy, German occupation and the events of D-Day. The museum highlights the technological and military success of Utah Beach, one of the five landing beaches in Normandy.

The museum has undergone several major expansions: in 1964 with a hexagonal hall housing a model of the landing, in 1984 with a projection room for the 40th anniversary, and in 1994 with an extension financed by the Region and the Department, including a panoramic room overlooking the beach. In 2007, two Americans, David and Gene Dewhurst, discovered a picture of their father, Major David Dewhurst, a pilot of a B-26 who bombarded German positions five minutes before the landing. Their foundation funded one third of the 2011 renovation.

Today, the museum extends over 3,000 m2 and offers immersive exhibitions, such as a flight simulator, a Higgins landing barge, and an award-winning documentary film, The Victory Beach. It is recognized as a major place of Franco-American memory, symbolizing gratitude to liberators. The testimony of veterans and civilians, as well as artifacts such as the artificial port (830,000 men and 725,000 tons of landed equipment), illustrate the logistical and human scale of Operation Overlord.

The museum also plays an educational role in explaining the strategic choice of Utah Beach, less defended than other sectors, and highlighting allied technological innovations. Its location on the beach, in the commune of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont (département de la Manche), makes it a historic and commemorative site, attracting visitors from all over the world. The collaboration between the town hall, American veterans and families such as the Dewhurst has helped preserve this unique heritage.

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