Churchill died in January 1965, and Guernsey — like the rest of the British Isles — observed the national mourning period that followed the largest state funeral Britain had staged since Wellington's in 1852. This 1999 gold issue arrived thirty-four years later, timed to the 125th anniversary of his birth. Guernsey had particular reason to mark Churchill: his government's decision not to defend the Channel Islands in 1940 left the islands under German occupation for five years, a point of complicated historical memory the anniversary conveniently sidestepped.
Churchill died in January 1965, and Guernsey — like the rest of the British Isles — observed the national mourning period that followed the largest state funeral Britain had staged since Wellington's in 1852. This 1999 gold issue arrived thirty-four years later, timed to the 125th anniversary of his birth. Guernsey had particular reason to mark Churchill: his government's decision not to defend the Channel Islands in 1940 left the islands under German occupation for five years, a point of complicated historical memory the anniversary conveniently sidestepped.