The terrible toll those Canadian, American and British soldiers paid to help liberate Europe from Nazism was remembered in a moving tribute on the Normandy beach of Arromanches Saturday. But the Fallen 9000 Project, completed as part of the International Day of Peace, honoured all people affected by the terrible bloodletting, including the civilians and German soldiers who perished.
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The endeavour saw volunteers stencil silhouetted representing the roughly 9000 civilians and soldiers who died at Arromanches on D-Day.
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The silhouettes were drawn at the same rate at which people fell on that fateful day, only to be erased by the incoming tide.
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The project is the brainchild of U.K. sand artists Jamie Wardley and Andy Moss.
The idea was to "create a visual representation of what is otherwise unimaginable -- the thousands of human lives lost during the hours of the tide," Wadley said in a press release. "The Fallen is a sobering reminder of what happens when peace is not present."
Wardley told HuffPost Canada that seeing the project come together was "absolutely amazing."
He said roughly 60 volunteers signed up to help ahead of time, but that those numbers would not have been nearly enough to get the job done. Something magical happened on the day itself.
"People just started turning up," Wardley said. "It was just so awe inspiring ... that they were embracing it."
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The Fallen 9000 Project
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Artists Andy Moss and Jamie Wardley created the Fallen 9000 project. (credit:Fallen 9000)
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More than 24,000 Canadians landed in France on D-Day, most at Juno Beach. They faced heavy artillery, machine gun nests and a massive seawall. The first wave suffered approximately 50 per cent causalities. Nevertheless, within hours, the Canadians made it off the beach. By the end of the day, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division had made it deeper into France than any other Allied unit.
The Canadian government opened a museum commemorating the soldiers of Juno beach in 2003.
While there are many monuments and museums in Normandy, Wardley said that what is missing is symbols of the people who died, soldiers and civilians, German and Allied.
On Saturday, people from Germany, France, the U.K and as far away as Chile worked together to complete the project.
"It was a very human event," Wardley said. "People from all different cultures came together to make this very human statement."
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D-Day In Colour And Black And White
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P38 fighter getting ready to fly a mission as the pilot arrives in a captured German vehicle shortly after the liberation of Paris by Allied troops August 26, 1944. (Frank Scherschel, Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images) (credit:Frank Scherschel, Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images)
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US soldiers gather around trucks disembarking from landing crafts shortly after D-Day 06 June 1944 after Allied forces stormed the Normandy beaches. D-Day, 06 June 1944 is still one of the world's most gut-wrenching and consequential battles, as the Allied landing in Normandy led to the liberation of France which marked the turning point in the Western theater of World War II. (AFP / Getty Images) (credit:AFP / Getty Images)
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Operation maps showing the landings on D-Day, June 06, 1944, are installed on the monument in the U.S. cemetery at Saint Laurent dur Mer, Normandy. Omaha Beach, just below Saint Laurent, is indicated on the mapn by the central arrow. (AP) (credit:AP)
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General Dwight Eisenhower is seen giving orders to American paratroopers in England. (credit:Library of Congress)
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U.S. paratroopers fix their static lines before a jump before dawn over Normandy on D-Day June 6, 1944, in France. The decision to launch the airborne attack in darkness instead of waiting for first light was probably one of the few Allied missteps on June 6, and there was much to criticize both in the training and equipment given to paratroopers and glider-borne troops of the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions. Improvements were called for after the invasion; the hard-won knowledge would be used to advantage later. (Army Signal Corps / AP) (credit:AP)
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A Coast Guard LCI, listing to port, pulls alongside a transport ship to evacuate her troops and wounded just before the craft capsized and sank during first invasion day on June 6, 1944. Helmeted troops, with full packs, are al to starboard side. Other ships of the huge flotilla that participated in the assault on the Normandy coast of France are in background. (AP) (credit:AP)
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French commandos with bicycles, part of Allied troops, land on Normandy beaches (north-west of France), to come as reinforcements during the historic D-Day, 06 June 1944, during WW2. (AFP / Getty Images) (credit:AFP / Getty Images)
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US troops disembark from landing crafts during D-Day 06 June 1944 after Allied forces stormed the Normandy beaches. D-Day, 06 June 1944 is still one of the world's most gut-wrenching and consequential battles, as the Allied landing in Normandy led to the liberation of France which marked the turning point in the Western theater of World War II. (AFP / Getty Images) (credit:AFP / Getty Images)
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Canadian soldiers from 9th Brigade land 06 June 1944 with their bicycles at Juno Beach in Bernieres-sur-Mer during D-Day while Allied forces are storming the Normandy beaches. D-Day, 06 June 1944 is still one of the world's most gut-wrenching and consequential battles, as the Allied landing in Normandy led to the liberation of France which marked the turning point in the Western theater of World War II. (AFP / Getty Images) (credit:AFP / Getty Images)
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U.S. reinforcements wade through the surf as they land at Normandy in the days following the Allies' June 1944, D-Day invasion of occupied France. (AP) (credit:AP)
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American troops advancing through a wood near Valognes, on the Cherbourg front. The track is littered with parts of bicyles and ironmongery June 27, 1944. (Fred Ramage, Keystone / Getty Images) (credit:Fred Ramage, Keystone / Getty Images)
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RAF planes, towing gliders, are silhouetted in the light of dawn on D-Day over the English channel on June 13, 1944. Aircraft are headed for the Normandy coast of France. (AP) (credit:AP)
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US Army troops seen marching through the streets of an embarkation port on the coast of England on their way over to Normandy, France June 6, 1944. (Keystone / Getty Images) (credit:Keystone / Getty Images)
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US soldiers from the 2nd Ranger Battalion surround German prisoners 06 June 1944 on the Pointe du Hoc located on a cliff which overlooks Omaha Beach after Allied forces stormed the Normandy beaches during D-Day. Elements of the 2nd Ranger Battalion scaled the 100 foot cliff and seized the German artillery pieces that could have fired on the Allied forces landing at Omaha Beach. D-Day, 06 June 1944 is still one of the world's most gut-wrenching and consequential battles, as the Allied landing in Normandy led to the liberation of France which marked the turning point in the Western theater of World War II. (AFP / Getty Images) (credit:AFP / Getty Images)
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US troops advancing to eradicate the last pockets of German resistance in Cherbourg July 1944. (Fred Ramage, Keystone / Getty Images) (credit:Fred Ramage, Keystone / Getty Images)
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In France, British soldiers inspect three German 'Doodlebugs' (known as 'Goliath' in Germany) - remote controlled tanks, loaded with high explosives June 1944. (Fox Photos / Getty Images) (credit:Fox Photos / Getty Images)
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An American paratrooper and an old French woman enjoy a joke together in the shell-torn streets of Sainte Mere Eglise, 20th June 1944. (Keystone / Getty Images) (credit:Keystone / Getty Images)
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Crowds in Italy celebrate their liberation by the Allied forces towards the end of World War II June 1944. (Keystone / Getty Images) (credit:Keystone / Getty Images)
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