Over There | The UF Gator Marching Band Honors D-Day Anniversary in France

In June, 2024, the Pride of the Sunshine traveled to France, to play three engagements in honor of the Battle of Normandy, the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, and the liberation of France. On June 6, the band performed a selection of ceremonial music at the Memorial de Montmormel just outside of the medieval town of Falaise, in the area known as the Falaise Pocket where the final stage of the Battle of Normandy took place. The following day, invited by the mayors of Normandy costal villages Colleville-sur-mer and Saint-Laurent-sur-mer, the band laid a wreath at the Normandy American Cemetery after playing “Amazing Grace” and “America the Beautiful”. They concluded the tour with a full concert performed in front of the Basilica of Sacré Coeur de Montmartre in Paris to commemorate the Allied liberation of France.