Kingswood’s Role In The D-D Landings

Thursday marks the 75^th anniversary of the D-Day landings, which took place on June 6^th 1944.

This was the first day of Operation Overlord – the Allied invasion of Normandy and the beginning of the liberation of Nazi-occupied France.

Back in December 1938, Alfred Barrett Sackett, Kingswood’s Headmaster (at that time), was secretly informed that the government would need to take over the school buildings, and in 1939, the Admiralty commandeered the School.

During this time, the boys and staff were evacuated to Uppingham School in the East Midlands.

Kingswood became an important base for the Ministry of Defence.

In fact, the final designs for the Mulberry Harbours, so critical to the success of the D-Day landings, were produced within the walls of the School.

In recognition of this, after the war, the Admiralty presented the School with a map and a commemorative illustration of the Arromanches Mulberry Harbour, both of which now hang in the School’s Cusworth Room.