In the early morning of June 6, 1944, after the airdrop of nearly 14,000 soldiers over the village and its surroundings, Sainte-Mère-Eglise became the first town in France to be liberated by air during the Battle of Normandy. From the preparations for D-Day in England to the conquest of freedom, the exhibition retraces the history of the airborne troops of the 82nd and 101st American Airborne Divisions, tasked with halting German counter attacks towards the beaches, in Sainte-Mère-Eglise and its surroundings.
In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy, the immersive and interactive exhibition 'D-Day: Freedom from Above' will be presented in the United States from April 6th to November 5th at the National Museum of the US Army in Washington. This exhibition is based on the interactive reconstructions produced for the HistoPad of the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Eglise.
This new type of exhibition combines physical scenography with augmented visits using the HistoPad to allow visitors of all ages to the National Museum of the US Army to relive these decisive moments of the Battle of Normandy.
This is a new updated presentation of the exhibition across the Atlantic, following a previous edition at the National Museum of the US Air Force in 2019 (Ohio), and one at the US Airborne and Special Operations Museum in 2021 (North Carolina). Inaugurated in 2020, the National Museum of the US Army is the first and only museum in the United States to trace the entire history of the American army since its creation in 1775, over 4,200 square meters of exhibition space.
In the exhibition, the National Museum of the US Army will bring together for the first time four Medals of Honor, the highest military distinction in the United States, awarded for actions during the Battle of Normandy. For the first time as well, the HistoPad will allow discovering the exceptional fate of eight paratroopers.