The Pegasus Bridge Memorial will commemorate the 'Coup de Main' operation carried out by men of D & B. Companies, 2nd. Battalion Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, who were air landed by Horsa Glider after being released from their RAF Halifax tug aircraft on D-Day the 6th. June 1944. At 26 minutes past midnight the bridges over the Orne River and Caen Canal were secured and the message "Ham & Jam" was sent to Combined Operations HQ. This daring operation protected the left flank of the main D-Day invasion forces as they went ashore in France. They were air landed beside the bridges by soldiers of the Glider Pilot Regiment and supported by Royal Engineers, Royal Army Medical Corps & 7 Para liaison. Soon afterwards hundreds of soldiers of 7 Para were dropped to reinforce the Ox and Bucks and then Lord Lovat's Commandos joined them after landing from the sea. The 'Coup de Main' was led by Major John Howard , who had trained his troops for over 2 years for this single operation. This prestigious memorial will be located at the far end of the Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove, which is situated within the National Memorial
Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire, DE13 7AR. Naturally we are raising funds for this memorial, which will be placed near to the River Tame, a quarry lake and beside a railway viaduct. Should you wish to support this endeavour, then please contact Mike Colton, (RGJ/SAS) who is managing the project, along with Scarf Jones (Ox & Bucks, Green Jackets & RGJ), who originally wanted a full size Glider in the Grove! We cannot quite manage a full size glider, but feel that the memorial flight of 3
Gliders will certainly be symbolic of an operation behind enemy lines of the utmost importance.