D-Day Remembrance Ceremony

Fort Miles Historical Association will host its fourth annual D-Day Remembrance Ceremony at Fort Miles Museum in Cape Henlopen State Park on Friday, June 6th. The ceremony to honor D-Day veterans starts at 10 a.m. on the museum’s event venue outside Battery 519’s north gun room overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. This ceremony salutes a signature day in world history and honors all those who participated.

Bagpiper Lani Spahr and the VFW Mason Dixon Post 7234 Honor Guard will open the ceremony. The Rev. Carol Flett of St. Peters Episcopal Church will deliver the invocation and benediction. FMHA historian Ed Paterline will deliver the keynote speech about the U.S. Army 29th Infantry Division’s participation and sacrifice during the June 6 Normandy invasion. Near the end of the ceremony, the names of each of the 40 Delaware service members killed during the Battle of Normandy campaign will be read and honored with the solemn tolling of a bell. This will be followed by the playing of taps and the firing of a rifle salute by the honor guard. Lani Spahr will conclude the ceremony with the playing of Amazing Grace.

After the ceremony, the Fort Miles Museum will be open until 4 p.m. On display in the north gun room will be the Chaplain’s kit that went ashore at Normandy with U.S. Army Chaplain Captain Morris Arnold on D-Day. Also on display will be a special rendering of the Normandy memorials by local artist Paul Rendel. Exhibit rooms in the north end of the museum, including the art gallery and gift shop, may be visited at no charge to the public. Docent-led guided tours of the south end of the museum, which recreates the WWII working environment of Battery 519, will be offered at 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. Tours are $6 per person; there is no tour charge for veterans, active-duty service members or FMHA Members.

Pictures from the 2024 D-Day Event provided by Alan Henney of Rehoboth Weekend Update 2024