At 3.30pm on Thursday, 6 June 2019 and standing alongside members of the Royal British Legion, the Town Mayor, Councillor Mervyn Hall, will lay a wreath at the commemorative stone on Marlborough Common which marks the site, during the Second World War, of a major American army hospital – the 347th Hospital Station.
After D-Day, the hospital received air-evacuated casualties direct from the military operations that led to the liberation of Europe.
The hospital, acrtive on Marlborough Common from May 1944 to July 1945, had 1,154 beds, 764 wooden buildings, 390 tents, 49 officers and 75 nurses all treating thousands upon thousands of military personnel.
The people of Marlborough, all volunteers, are credited on the commemorative stone and remembered for working long hours helping doctors and nurses to treat injured service.
The Mayor said: “This is our commemoration both to all those who played their part in D-Day, one of the most remarkable of all Allied wartime operations, as well as to those in Marlborough who devoted their efforts helping at home. Another proud moment for the town.”
All are welcome to attend the short ceremony near the steps on the eastern edge of The Common.
At 4pm on June 6 the bells of St Mary’s Church will be rung to mark this 75th anniversary of D-Day.
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