50 Pence - Charles III D-Day - Pegasus Bridge

Pegasus Bridge — the road bridge over the Caen Canal near Bénouville — was seized by D Company, 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in the early hours of 6 June 1944, roughly sixteen minutes after their Horsa gliders landed. It was the first Allied ground objective taken on D-Day. The operation's success depended on a coup de main assault precise enough to land within meters of the target in complete darkness, which it did.

Guernsey's particular stake in commemorating the Normandy campaign is not incidental — the island was under German occupation from June 1940 until May 1945, liberated only after Germany's unconditional surrender.