Well, 2024, June 5th - 15th will be etched on memories of the team for a long while now.
I personally found parts as moving as ever, especially the British Memorial and I hope the 80th anniversary will only be another number of a continuing annual remembrance of one of the most important days of WW2.
Lest we forget.
For us, it was a mixture of radios, venues, museums, memorials, the CMP, which did remarkably well again this year, and of course the team, be it the "Famous 5" ( Martin Smyth, Rich Bamber, Tony Barron, Rick and myself, James Burrough ), Then there was six, ( With the addition of Trevor Sanderson ) and then there was eight ( Adding James and John .. 
Follows are pictures of us, having fun...... I hope you have enjoyed the 2024 D Day as much as we have enjoyed being there.

On our last day, we returned to the radar museum to mixed weather. Around lunchtime, the sun had come out again and Martin and I had a demonstration of the WW2 German Li Spr80 light radio.
The photos show what a fantastic piece of kit this is, and the video I hope gives a useful demonstration of how it works. Martin was impressed! 
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Today was the first day of the two day celebration at the Radar Museum. The weather was against us, radio was not great but helped by SDR Flex to listen in and complete the nets.
Interestingly, there was a German radio truck, fitted out, mast up, but not operating.
Other set ups included two German Red Cross ladies, A German artillery group and a Scottish Canadian unit! 
A few photos, but not as many as I had hoped due to lack of footfall and the poor weather. 
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Friday, D Day +8. Back to Station Radar.
Less photos today as it was more or less as before. We are returning tomorrow too, but tomorrow there is a celebration day to celebrate the liberation of the Radar station in 1944. It took 11 days with the final battle taking place on the 17th June 1944 by British 41 Commando, Royal Marines. It now houses one of the last five Würzburg radars left in the world! Located as one of the most important air defence stations of the Atlantic Wall, it had five radars which could detect targets 400km away.
Have a read here... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Douvres_Radar_Station

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Thursday, D-Day + 7, Juno Beach. ( Checking on the Canadian's )
This year, Mr Barron had another venue, carefully negotiated, for us to park and set up. Juno Beach centre. This was a new venue to us, but one we all wanted to visit. The only Canadian WW2 museum in the world we are told, one we didn't want to miss with our CMP! 
Between two crosses along the coast, a short distance apart, no fewer than 30 bunkers were established in early 1944. Surviving today, just two, and both open to tours from the museum. It's incredible to see how the land has changed, the observation bunker in 1944 was on the sea front, being lapped by waves. Now set back behind ever changing sand dunes, offering it some protection to preserve it.  The centre itself has the names of the fallen, and various monuments placed around the large sea front site. Reminders, if ever you needed one, of the horror of war, and the lives lost in Normandy. 
We again flew the old Canadian flag, proudly from our CMP mast and after a challenging radio start, we settled down, one fuse, one repaired knob and a reserve speaker later. 
Following now are pictures from the site, and some images to understand the flag.  As ever, please enjoy!
Details on Juno centre here : ​https://www.junobeach.org/canada-in-wwii/articles/d-day/
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Sometimes, radio is tiring. Martin and Rick have been flat out, so a little down time today wasn't going amiss. 

Wednesday the twelfth was a British Memorial Day. Martin and Rick went off early and set up for the early net. 80m started well, but tailed off quite rapidly.  Radio was high on the agenda but you can't not get taken in by the surroundings.
The British memorial is quite new. Although the British were one of the first to land on the 6th June, it took until 2021 to have a proper British memorial in Normandy. It is maturing now with precisely cut grass within the memorial and wild flower meadows surrounding it.
Now, for those in the know, the following pictures demonstrate the Standing with Giants display. For those who don't, a few years in the making, a charity in Oxfordshire have made 1475 silhouettes and placed them around the memorial. Please visit: 
 https://www.standingwithgiants.co.uk/ 
and following are some of the many pictures I took today.
( 1475 being the number of troops killed under British command, who died  on June 6th. )
Note, the Memorial is to the west ( left ) of Ver S Mer on the D Day map, which is almost the opposite side of Ver s Mer to what was B3 Landing ground.
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Tuesday's adventure was the Radar station again.
Interesting details are here : https://www.royalmarineshistory.com/post/41-cdo-raid-on-douvres-radar-station and it's with a read. It wasn't an easy capture, taking 12 days to fully take control.
We however turned up unchallenged and set up various units. Rich was trying 6m using an Icom 7300 and Clansman 353, both with a linear amp using adequate power with a six element Yagi beam on the mast raised about 20'. With conditions against us, CW probably worked best but we had fun trying.
Trevor ( PA3BOH ), John ( G3UJZ ) and I played with Clansman 320s and Trevor's 618T Collins on 40m on 7070. At the end of the net, my Clansman 320 was put on the 40m Inverted V and successfully communicated with Ian ( M0YMK ) in Gloucestershire, Chris ( G4UZE ) in Ruislip I believe? and Paul ( M1PVC )who did a fantastic job or co-ordinating the comms.
After that net, I went off with Trevor to B4 Landing ground and over 2 miles, talked back to John who had his 320 set up. A good day more or less, a great day for me to get my 320 working, and not only working, but talking to the UK. Thanks Ian and Paul. Thanks Martin for restoring the radio. Thanks everyone else for supporting and guiding  me. 

Today was our day off, so typically on our day off in Normandy, Martin woke everyone up at 7am to go and play radios on Gold Beach.
Rick ( who doesn't sleep anyway ) went with him and they were joined by Trevor later on. Tony, Rich and I woke at a sensible time and got on with sorting stuff out. I did the blog catch up with an internet speed slower than the CMP up a hill. Tony and Rich had admin paperwork and a supermarket shop to do, so everyone went their own way. After the blog, I went for a walk ( for about 5 hours ) and took some photos, but mostly took in once again, the emotional power this area bestows upon us. The sea started quite rough, a good wind and drizzle to start. I"m guessing much like the 6th, 1944,  during the day. Now all that remains are large concrete hulks and a few signs, but the emotion is still there. From the main gun bunker, looking back down the beach, you can understand why that needed removing quickly. ( Even one house still stands looking prepared, incase of a bombing raid, with windows taped. 
​So, a few radio, CMP and a few more indulgent photos today from a quieter Gold Beach. 

Just a quick post showing what we have fixed into the CMP this year. There are other radios we have here which I hope to get up too, including Trevor's kit, some portable WW2, My Clansman 320 and the Flex
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