A look at the personal objects American soldiers collected during the D-Day landings, revealing how everyday items became lasting symbols of war, survival, and memory.

Early on the morning of June 6, 1944, photojournalist Robert Capa landed with American troops on Omaha Beach. Before the day was through, he had taken some of the most famous combat photographs of World War II.

During World War II, American fighter pilots coped with the dangers of combat through dark humor and evocative aircraft nicknames like “Live Bait” and “Flak Bait,” reflecting their bravery, their gallows wit, and the intensity of their experiences.

From the hedgerows of Normandy across the rivers of northern France and into the dense forests of the Hürtgen and the Ardennes, Royal Air Force (RAF) and US Army Air Forces (USAAF) aircraft cleared the way for the advance of the Allied ground armies. 

The Douglas C-47 became the mainstay for airborne drops and were used in this role extensively for Operations Overlord, Dragoon, Market Garden, and Varsity.

Originally designated Operation Anvil and intended to support the hammer blow of the Normandy landings two months earlier, the renamed Operation Dragoon fulfilled an American desire for a lodgment in southern France that shifted forces from the strategic cul-de-sac of Italy.

At this free daylong public symposium, guests heard from leading historians on the challenges, battles, and victories that followed the June 6 Allied landings and made the liberation of Europe from Nazi oppression possible.

In May 1944, the Western Allies were finally prepared to deliver their greatest blow of the war, the long-delayed, cross-channel invasion of northern France, code-named Overlord.