Okay, Let's Go!; with those words stated by Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the largest armed invasion ever known to man got underway. D-Day Conneaut is pleased to present our commemorative coin for 2010 by featuring these three little words on the face of a coin depicting Allied Airborne and Axis Air Defense Operations. On the 66th Anniversary of D-Day and our 11th Anniversary, this coin is the second in a series of D-Day Conneaut commemorative. Just as in 2009, this antique bronze medallion is 1-3/4 inches in diameter and features both an Allied and Axis side.
The Allied side features allied paratroopers descending into the town at Sainte-Mère-Église at 2:04 AM June 6th 1944. The church in the town center where American Paratrooper John Steele hung from a church spire is the main feature of the coin, but there is so much more. A number of parachutists are etched into the coin face as well as 3 C-47's, one of which is illuminated by search lights from anti aircraft artillery batteries which were stationed around the town. LIBERTÉ lies below the scene in this years coin, terra firma for the troops descending to earth. The flags of the major allied air forces involved as well as the U.S. unit designations of 101st, 82nd and the 6th British Airborne or Operations Neptune and Tonga flank the flags. New Zealanders of the RAF provided air support, so the flag of New Zealand has replaced the Polish Flag for this year. 1944 NORMANDY LXVI (66) and 2010 CONNEAUT XI (11) is etched in the outer face rim while the inscription of D-Day June 6 1944 crowns the inner scene. As in last years coin, the font chosen closely represents the same font used on the grave markers in the Normandy American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach.
The axis side features a German mobile Anti Aircraft Flak-gun and unit in action inland near the City of Caen France. On the afternoons of the 6th and 7th of June, C-47's towing Horsa Gliders filled with men and equipment were sent to reinforce the British and Canadian Paratroopers which landed early on D-Day. The inner design features a scene reminiscent of those operations, code named Tonga, in a life and death struggle upon the plains of the French countryside. As in the 2009 coin, GOTT MIT UNS, the phrase upon every German Soldatin's belt buckle, is embossed upon a sunburst field just as it was in 1944. The phrase, ZUR ERINNERUNG AN MEINE DIENSTZEIT, meaning, In Remembrance of My Service, honors all who gave all on that day of days encircles this dramatic scene.
