ABSTRACT
The D-Day Museum at Portsmouth is the United Kingdom’s only museum with the sole remit of telling the story of the 1944 Normandy landings (see Figure 17.1). From 2015 to 2017, the museum is carrying out a major redevelopment project, which will not just completely revise its displays but also aims to reposition the museum as the UK’s hub for the commemoration and study of D-Day. Portsmouth City Council established the D-Day Museum in 1984 and has continued to run it since as one of a group of six varied museums. Other well-known museums in Portsmouth, including the Mary Rose Museum, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and the National Museum of the Royal Navy, are run by separate organisations. Naturally
many museums about the D-Day landings can be found in Normandy, but Portsmouth’s connection to these events may perhaps be less obvious. The popular memory of D-Day probably begins in the early hours of D-Day, at a point somewhere in the English Channel. The vast logistical base in the UK that was required to launch the invasion, and the impact on the civilians in that area as they witnessed the departure of Allied forces, are sometimes overlooked. The D-Day Museum does not just tell this story, but the whole story of D-Day.
