'These boots were made for beaching!'
Step into history with Soldiers of Shropshire Museum as they commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Eighty years ago, 6 June 1944, soldiers of the 2nd Battalion King's Shropshire Light Infantry stormed Sword Beach in Normandy to help liberate western Europe from Nazi domination.
To commemorate the anniversary, the museum team at Shrewsbury Castle are offering visitors of all ages the opportunity to explore D-Day through weapons handling and a display of kit equipment and other D-Day objects, including boots that trod the Normandy sand. Free for all museum ticket holders, the event runs all day Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the first two weeks of June.
Visitors will be able to handle a No.4 Lee-Enfield Mk 1 .303 calibre rifle. Approved for service by the British Army in 1939, the firearm became a pivotal weapon for British and Commonwealth forces during D-Day and the wider Battle of Normandy. For the museum’s director Richard Gough, it was a ‘robust, powerful, accurate and popular’ weapon.
For museum volunteer and staff member Dr Robert MacKinnon, a pair of boots worn on D-Day by a Shropshire soldier – Private Herring - is his favourite item that will go on show. Robert said: "The boots were on display in the 1990s, but later for some reason they were removed and placed in our turret store. When I realised we had these boots I was pretty astonished and excited, I’ve been staring at one of the outsoles thinking ‘this was at a momentous time and place that really did change history, fundamental to our world we live in. I cannot imagine what the wearer must have been feeling!"
Just in time for the anniversary, the museum is delighted and proud to announce a book release, a labour of love, from museum volunteer David Shergold. David’s book - Critical hours on D-Day: The epic advance of the 2nd Battalion King’s Shropshire Light Infantry on Caen, 6th June 1944 - tells the hitherto under-told story of the allied ground unit that made the furthest progress on D-Day.
David’s book is for sale on Amazon and in the museum’s gift shop. All profits go to the museum.
By Robert MacKinnon - Contributor
