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Summary

Memorial to the people of the South Hams who were evacuated to provide a training area for the Normandy landings in June 1944.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Tide Project: 02/09/2022

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WAR MEMORIAL (World War II - 1945 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

Impett, R. M., 1989, U.S. Memorial, Slapton Sands (Ground Photograph). SDV339598.

Mitchell, S. + Mitchell, T., 2007, Devon and Cornwall Scenes, Slapton Sands and Ley (Website). SDV339599.

On the beach at Slapton sands stands a granite memorial to the wartime role of the area, which was evacuated in order to be used by the US Army as a training area during the preparations for the Normandy landings.

GetMapping, 2010, GetMapping 2010 aerial photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV351585.

Map object based on this source.

Walls, S., 2010, The Materiality of Remembrance: Twentieth Century War Memorials in Devon, 154, 311; Figure 5.37a; SLA16 (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV355902.

The Slapton Sands Evacuation Memorial, which was erected in 1945 by the US Army and Navy to commemorate the evacuation of the surrounding area for D-Day training exercises. This memorial takes the form of a cenotaph and its form is therefore perhaps typical of American monumental architecture in being a large upright memorial of light coloured stone. It may have also however been influenced by the presence of memorial crosses to the First World War in five of the six parishes which it was erected to commemorate, while no memorial obelisks or cenotaphs existed nearby.

Ordnance Survey, 2014, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV355681.

Map object based on this source.

Unknown, 2014, With the British Army in Flanders (Website). SDV356126.

The inscription on the monument reads

' This memorial was presented by the United States Army Authorities to the people of the South Hams who generously left their homes and their lands to provide a battle practice area for the successful assault in Normandy in June 1944.
Their action resulted in the saving of many hundreds of lives and contributed in no small measure to the success of the operation.
The area included the villages of Blackawton, Chillington, East Allington, Sherford, Slapton, Stokenham, Strete and Torcross, together with many outlying farms and houses'.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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