May 24 - October 1, 2019
The Eagle Grill, Bar Lounge
To honor the 75th anniversary of D-Day, The Library Trust has mounted a small exhibition of related art, photographs, and artifacts from the Club’s collection, including our newest acquisition: a silk escape map of German-occupied France.
On June 6, 1944, the Western Allies of World War II launched history’s largest amphibious invasion when they assaulted the northern coast of France at Normandy province to begin the successful invasion of German-occupied France. The D-Day invasion began the liberation of European territories from Nazi control and laid the foundation for the Allied victory on the Western front.
To honor the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the Library Trust has mounted a small exhibition of related art, photographs, and artifacts from the Club’s collection, now on view in the bar lounge of the Eagle Grill.
This exhibition features the Club’s most recent acquisition, a silk Escape & Evasion map of German-occupied France, issued to paratroopers and aircrews flying missions over Europe during the War. These maps were originally commissioned by the British War Office. Also on view is a copy of Ike’s D-Day Letter, written by Eisenhower to his most senior commanders on the eve of the invasion.
Our D-Day exhibition also includes the return to the Club of William Adair’s Normandy Door, an interactive sculpture that was on view in the Eagle Grill in 2017. The Normandy Door, one in a series of Adair’s “Golden Doors to Infinity” project, was taken by Adair to Omaha Beach in 2014, on D-Day’s 70th anniversary, and signed by numerous veterans celebrating on the beaches of Normandy. Adair encourages members to sign the back of the Normandy Door, especially those among us with a connection to World War II.
The silk scarf map was donated by Club Carole Brookins. The Eisenhower letter was donated by Albert Small, a WWII Navy veteran.