To mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, Monnaie de Paris has minted a collection paying tribute to the soldiers of the four major Allied nations.
French commandos, British airborne troops and American and Canadian infantrymen are honoured in this historic collection.
Léon, Second-Maitre (Petty Officer) of the Commando Kieffer, was one of the 177 Frenchmen who took part in the Normandy landings on the beach known as "Sword Beach", alongside British forces as part of Commando N°4. Here he poses in front of one of the Ouistreham bunkers, with his comrades in the background holding the flag of the Free French Naval Forces.
The reverse of these coins depicts a spiral of all the Allied nations that took part in the landings, whether on land, sea or in the air. The stars under the flags are also a tribute to the Liberty Road, the milestones marking the route taken by the 3rd American Army to liberate France, as far as Luxembourg.
