D-Day 80: Handcrafted servicemen silhouettes set for Normandy

Hand-made silhouettes of 1,475 servicemen set to stand in Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day are being put together in Oxfordshire.

The art installation, by Standing with Giants, has taken Witney-based artist Dan Barton four years to plan.

Made from recycled signs, 80 local groups from choirs to veterans, guides and scouts are assembling the figures ready for their journey to France.

They will stand at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer in late April.

Artist Dan Barton, said he was "humbled and honoured" to be able to install the silhouettes across the wild meadow fields at the memorial.

"People can pay their respects to those that have given us our freedom," he said.

The art installation, called For Your Tomorrow, represents the number of fatalities under British command on 6 June 1944.

Once completed, the statues are due to travel on articulated lorries in ornate crates leaving Oxfordshire on 5 April.

More than 22,000 poppies, crocheted by the Women's Institute (WI), will decorate the base plinths of the carrying crates.

They will sail by ferry to France from Portsmouth.

When they arrive, the installation will take 20 to 30 people about 15 days to set up.

Mr Barton founded Standing with Giants after several successful displays, including 200 soldiers at Blenheim Palace to mark Remembrance Sunday in 2020.

In April 2023, 258 silhouetted figures were installed in the parade ground at Fort Nelson overlooking Portsmouth, Hampshire, to remember those who lost their lives in the Falklands conflict.

He said he calls them "giants" due to the enormity of their sacrifice so that others can be free.

The installation will be on display as part of the D-Day 80 commemorations until the end of August 2024.

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