Originally owned by a survivor of the Omaha Beach D-Day landings. The Mandolin was known to have been gifted to Ken Small who had established a permanent memorial to 639 American servicemen who lost their lives during 'Exercise Tiger', one of several full scale rehearsals off the south coast of England in the months prior to D-Day.

 

Recently brought to light by the detective work and research of Gordon and Hilary Giltrap, the D-Day Mandolin has been faithfully reproduced to include the inscriptions on the rear and names of troops who survived some of the most brutal military campaigns in modern times.

 

A poignant reminder of the sacrifices made over 70 years ago by those remarkable servicemen and women, and the importance of musical instruments in raising morale during wartime conflict.