The Omaha Beach Museum settles in the old party hall

After a first exhibition near the sea the previous year, Mr. Tréfeu and Mr. Leveel had acquired the old Vierville ballroom to set up their museum. The previous room was too small to present the collections in good conditions.

The half-cylinder building covered with sheet metal had been renovated: paintings redone, defective sheets replaced and parking prepared for visitors. The opening was announced for the day after the publication.

The two collectors wanted to remain focused on Vierville, its surroundings and the period from June 1940 to August 1944, in order to tell rather than juxtapose objects about an era or region that was too large. Two large models represented American and German soldiers around Omaha. Drawings, weapons, ammunition, uniforms and everyday objects had been gathered to correspond to the units and local events, a process that they considered less simple than it seemed.

Civil life was also mentioned by the newspapers, posters and directives of the prefect of Calvados, the sub-prefect and the mayor of Bayeux. An order prohibiting the movement of raspberries from Calvados to other departments was side by side with otherwise serious documents on the census of Alsatians and Jews. The report, signed Jacques Fauchon, invited to discover this new place dedicated to Omaha the Bloody.

Reconstructed or uncertain passages:
- The name Leveel is used according to the spelling printed in this denomination; other documents in the fund may use another accentuation.

Archive image: https://vierville.cordelle.eu/Photos2008/1986-MuseeMai86.jpg