The London Mint Office has made its very own unique commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day on June 6 with a special coin in Fairmined gold issued at Monnaie De Paris before making its journey to the Normandy beaches where Military Ambassador Simon Weston CBE paid his respects.
Falklands veteran Simon was at the Pegasus Memorial Museum at Ranville before an audience of invited guests in tribute to the largest seaborne invasion in history. The Normandy landings began on Tuesday, June 6, 1944, D-Day or Operation Neptune, marking the start of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. A 1,200 plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.
The special coin was issued at France’s foremost mint, the Monnaie De Paris in Fairmined gold, which means it has been ethically mined. Some 15 million people work in gold worldwide, 90% of them in artisanal, small scale mines in developing countries, more likely to be affected by poverty, poor working conditions, child labour and toxic chemicals. Fairmined is an assurance label that certifies gold from empowered responsible artisanal and small-scale mining organisations. It transforms mining into an active force for good, ensuring social development and environmental protection.
Daniel Penney, Managing Director of The London Mint Office said: “D-Day began the liberation of France and laid the foundations of the Allied victory in WWII, so we needed a very special event to mark this historic milestone. It is an honour to work with the prestigious Monnaie De Paris, and we are delighted to be able to issue the coin in the ethically sourced, more sustainable Fairmined gold, and to take it on this poignant journey to Normandy.”
The Monnaie De Paris is France’s longest standing institution and the oldest enterprise in the world, officially founded in 864 as a coining workshop in Paris, the only one in France in continuous operation since it opened.