U.S. #2838c
1994 Allies in Normandy, D-Day, June 6, 1944 – World War II
- Part of the fourth souvenir sheet issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of World War II
- Sheet includes 10 stamps plus a world map
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Series: World War II
Value: 29¢ (Individual stamps), First ... more
U.S. #2838c
1994 Allies in Normandy, D-Day, June 6, 1944 – World War II
- Part of the fourth souvenir sheet issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of World War II
- Sheet includes 10 stamps plus a world map
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Series: World War II
Value: 29¢ (Individual stamps), First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue: June 6, 1994
First Day City: Two main ceremonies in Washington, DC and St. Mere Egilse, Normandy, with additional smaller events in: Fort Dix, New Jersey; Salt Lake City, Utah; New York, New York; Clarksville, Tennessee; Fort Sam Houston, Lubbock, San Antonio, and Houston, Texas; Bangor, Maine; Charleston, South Carolina; Virginia Beach and Richmond, Virginia; and Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Quantity Issued (if known): 120,600,000
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Offset, Intaglio
Format: Sheetlets of 10 (arranged in 2 strips of 5, one across the top and one across the bottom of the sheetlet, with world map in between)
Perforations: 11.1 (Eureka off-line perforator)
Tagging: Overall, large block covering stamps and part of selvage
Why the stamp was issued: This souvenir sheet was issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of World War II. It was the fourth in a series of five that were issued over the course of five years.
About the stamp design: Shows a landing craft with its bow door down allowing troops to make their way to shore through the shallows. Behind them are smaller craft and a half-submerged hedgehog made up of three bars welded together at right angles. The painting was based on War Department photographs.
Special design details: Bond took artistic license when he made the water a bright green color. He said “I think D-Day was very dull, gray day… but the Postal Service likes color in these stamps to give them some life and make them a little more interesting.”
First Day City: The stamps were dedicated in two ceremonies on June 6th: one at the National Postal Museum in Washington, DC, and one in the town of St. Mere Egilse in Normandy. First Day of Issue postmarks read “USS Normandy.” Thirteen additional cities held events for the stamps’ First Day of Issue and offered pictorial cancellations.
The ceremony at Lubbock Texas, was special as it was the same city in which World War II pilots were given glider training at the old South Plains Army Air Field. One of those pilots was Werner Birkelbach, who flew an antitank gun and four soldiers to Normandy before dawn on D-Day. Fifty years later, on the World War II stamps’ First Day of Issue, Birkelbach flew a modern sailplane 35 miles from Littlefield, Texas, to Lubbock to deliver cacheted covers bearing the new stamps. They were all given First Day of Issue postmarks at the end of the trip.
Pre-First Day Usage: Linn’s Stamp News found that a “P-51s escort B-17s” stamp was used on cover postmarked Rock Hill, New York, on June 3rd, three days before the stamps were officially issued. This was the earliest known usage of the one of the World War II stamps.
About the World War II Series: As the 50th anniversary of World War II was approaching, the US Postal Service wanted a series that would recognize the key events of the war and the important contributions America made to the Allied victory. Rather than issue a large number of stamps, the USPS decided to create five sheetlets, each commemorating one year of America’s involvement in the war. Each sheetlet had 10 different stamps arranged in two horizontal strips of 5. In the center was a world map with Allied and neutral nations in yellow and Axis-controlled areas in red. Notes on the map highlighted key developments that occurred that year. The stamps each featured important events that took place during the year, as well.
History the stamp represents: Early in 1942, the US and Great Britain began making plans for a large-scale invasion across the English Channel. Code-named “Operation Overlord,” the invasion was to be commanded by General Dwight D. Eisenhower who was ordered: “You will enter the continent of Europe and, in conjunction with the other United Nations, undertake operations aimed at the heart of Germany and the destruction of her armed forces.”
Scheduled for June 5th, rough seas forced Eisenhower to postpone the invasion. Early on June 6th, the largest amphibious force ever seen stormed the Atlantic Wall of which Hitler had boasted, “No power on earth can drive us out of this region against our will.” At 3:32 a.m. New York time, a radio news flash announced Eisenhower’s Order of the Day: “The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory.”
Minesweepers had gone ahead to clear the water, and as the invasion armada headed across the channel, paratroopers and glider units dropped behind enemy lines. At dawn battleships opened fire and troops stormed ashore. Taken by surprise, the Germans fought back fiercely. Troops at Omaha Beach came under heavy fire and barely managed to stay ashore, but by nightfall all five Allied beaches had been secured.
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