ID:PC_WD_WS_006DESCRIPTION:This medal belongs to William Shand who was interviewed by pupils of Rosebank Primary School, Nairn, as part of a War Detectives project in 2005.
It is the Normandy Campaign Medal, a commemorative medal commissioned by the Normandy Veterans Association as a tribute to those who took part in the Normandy Campaign of World War 2. It is available exclusively to veterans who took part in the Normandy Campaign between 6 June and 20 August 1944, or to their next of kin.
The inscription on the medal reads: 'Blessent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone' ('Wound my heart with monotonous langour'). This is a line from Paul Verlaine's poem 'Chanson d'Automne', which was used in World War 2 as a code, signalling to the French Resistance that the Normandy invasion was imminent.
On 5 June 1944, the BBC broadcast a group of unusual personal messages, of which only a few were significant. A few days before D-Day, the commanding officers of the Resistance had heard the first line of Verlaine's poem: 'Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne' ('Long sobs of autumn violins'). When the second line was heard, they knew that the invasion would take place within the next 48 hours. It was time to sabotage communication systems throughout the countryPLACENAME:N/APERIOD:1940sSOURCE:Am Baile and War DetectivesCOLLECTION:War Detectives (images)Asset ID:30233KEYWORDS:
Your download will start shortly, please do not navigate away from this page until the download prompt has appeared. Doing so may cause your download to be interrupted.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok