Royal Mail apologises over D-Day landing stamp

ROYAL Mail has apologised over a stamp design planned to commemorate the D-Day landings which actually showed US troops on a beach in Asia.

The stamp was intended to represent British troops landing in France and was labelled as “D-Day Allied soldiers and medics wade ashore”.

It was part of the 2019 Special Stamp programme showcasing the “Best of British” and was to be released in June.

Royal Mail said the image will no longer be part of the final collection.

A spokesman said: “We work very hard to ensure that our Special Stamp programme appropriately commemorates anniversaries and events that are relevant to UK herit- age and life. We would like to offer our sincere apologies that our preview release for our 2019 Special Stamp programme included a stamp design which had been incorrectly associated with the D-Day landings.”

Paul Woodadge, a film-maker, author and historian, said: “The image chosen actually depicts US troops disembarking from LCI(L) 30 at Dutch New Guinea in May 1944. Please correct this or you will look like idiots.”

The image is also captioned on the US National Second World War museum website as “USS LCI(L)-30 landing troops carrying stretchers onto a beach during a second assult [sic] wave”, and was taken on May 17 1944.

Royal Mail/PA One of a set of stamps that was due to be issued in 2019 to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings