For the celebrations commemorating the 80th anniversary of the landing of the Allies on the coast of France in World War II, 35 historic military vehicles of the US Army and a group of about 100 people living hitory clubs are heading to Normandy from Pilsen. Deputy Mayor Lucie Kantorová will participate in the commemorative event on Utah Beach on behalf of the city of Pilsen.

Military Car Club Plzeň, beinging together people interested in the history of the Second World War, especially the liberation of southwestern Bohemia by the American army is getting for Normany. For the first time, the Tommy & Yankee living history club will set up its military history camp in Trévières, Normandy, together with the Army Nurse Corps group, whose main theme is army nurses, and last but not least, the Historical and Military vehicle Club of the Autoclub of Czech republic which maintains the legacy of the Czechoslovak independent armored brigade that landed in Normandy in 1944.

“I am glad that Pilsen is participating in the celebrations in Normandy, which we also take as the opportunity of the invitation to the 2025 Liberation Festival Pilsen. I would like to thank everyone who represents our city in France, including members of traditional living history clubs, whom we also financially supported for these purposes,” said the mayor of Pilsen, Roman Zarzycký.

“By laying flowers as part of the main commemorative act on Utah Beach on June 6, our city of Pilsen will pay respect to the soldiers, who went on to liberate Europe, as well as members of the US Army’s 90th Infantry Division who came all the way to the Pilsen region”,  explained deputy Lucie Kantorová. Clubs and representatives of the city will also present the Liberation Festival Pilsen during the trip inviting  for the 80th anniversary of the liberation, which will take place from May 2 to 6, 2025.

Representatives of the city and the clubs will visit the town of Arromanches. CIty that became one of the busiest ports in the world during the Second World War. In 2019, a commemorative plaque to the Czechoslovak Independent Armored Brigade, which was part of the British troops within the Allied armies and played an important role in the siege of Dunkirk, was unveiled in the Landing Museum. Due to the recent renovation of the museum, the plaque will be reinstalled in the new space, which is the Jardin de Pins – the Garden of Pines. The ceremony will take place on June 7 in the presence of the representative of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in France, the mayor of Arromanches Marcel Bastide, the director of the museum Fréderic Sommier, the director of the Liberation Route Europa foundation and representatives of other military history clubs from other countries.

The city of Pilsen supported all three military history clubs with a subsidy of 50,000 crowns.

Source: plzen.eu

Picture: FB KVH Tommy and Yankee z.s.