D-Day Tribute Defeated By ‘Blown Sand'

A D-DAY re-enactment on a beach where soldiers trained for the Omaha landings has been cancelled after conditions were deemed too risky.

- Tom Bevan

Organisers pulled the plug on the event in Devon, saying “blown sand” and “surface water” made the site “outright dangerous”.

A spokesman said: “It’s with a heavy heart that we have to cancel Saunton D-Day and Devon D-Day on 5th and 6th June this year over safety issues.”

But locals expressed surprise and sadness that current natural peacetime conditions are so bad to force a cancellation. One said: “How ironic that the beach is deemed too dangerous for a re-enactment considering what it was used for before D-Day.

“They obviously don’t want any accidents and you can understand they need to be careful.