Castletown D-Day Centre

#embarkation #ww2 #portland #volunteer #army

A lovely visit from George Short, 92 years young with his well deserved Legion of Honour medal, which he was delighted to share with us.
George served onboard HMS Nelson as a gunner with the Royal Marines. During the landings on D Day, HMS Nelson provided naval gunfire support to the British troops ashore on Gold beach. We thank you for your service George. Claire T

We have a tribute board and informstion on Edward Morozewizc at the D Day Centre and this is the story of his close friend. Very moving.

Photos from Weymouth Carnival 2018 of Castletown D-Day Centre volunteers riding in jeeps. Do you have any photos from the carnival of our volunteers? Please feel free to share them down in the comment section. Thank you 😊
- Jed

This year many visitors to the D-Day Centre have enjoyed the opportunity to visit military vehicle specialist Ian Dunford in his workshop to learn about the jeep rebuild project he is currently working on. The jeep is a 1945 dated Ford GPW and is undergoing a 100% 'nut & bolt' rebuild. Yesterday was a very important day as it was the first time the engine had been run properly since 1963. After 55 years it is a testament to Ian's knowledge and skill that the engine fired up instantly and ran smoothly with no knocks or misses. Well done Ian - another WWII jeep brought back to life! SG

Seasons greetings and best wishes to you all from the staff at the D-Day Centre.

This Saturday 8th Dec the 1st Battalion the Dorsetshire Regiment living history group will be joining us for the day. They will be displaying a range of WW2 british equipment and weapons and are a wealth of knowledge on the local regiment's participation in the second world war. We look forward to welcoming them.

The D-Day Centre is very pleased to announce the Island of Portland will be playing a primary role in the 75th anniversary commerorations of D-Day taking place in June 2019. The skies over Portland will resonate with the sound of WWII aircraft passing overhead as paratroopers are once again carried to the drop zones of Normandy. The aircraft will form up over way point 'Flatbush' (Portland Bill) before heading out across the English Channel. These airborne landings will begin... the 75th anniversary commerorations and the D-Day Centre is proud to be a part of these historic events. SG
Itinerary:
Day I. Monday, June 3, 2019 Relocation of all parachute participants from RCPT-France headquarters in Normandy to Portland UK & Castletown D-Day Center
Day II. Tuesday, June 4, 2019 Relocation to Upottery Airfield. Exhibition and commemoration ceremony in cooperation with the Heritage Center Upottery Airfield. (Open day for spectators).
Day III. Wednesday, June 5, 2019 I. Formation flight with all airplanes and paratroopers together over the channel directly into the American drop zone „Carentan les Marais“ followed by a mass drop of all paratrooper participants. The aircraft then return to the home base at the Maupertus airport in Cherbourg - Normandy for the rest of the operation.
Day IV. Thursday, June 6, 2019 Free day (no event program of RCPT).
Day V. Friday, June 7, 2019 II. Formation flight with all aircraft from Maupertus Cherbourg Airport, into the English drop zone "Ranville" - Normandy, followed by another mass drop of all paratroopers.
Day VI. Saturday, June 8, 2019, Parachute jump over the drop zone "Ecausseville" at the Zeppelin hangar. (On this jump is still open, whether in the entire airplane formation is flown, or "only" in diminished grouping - information follows).
Day VII. Sunday, June 9, 2019 III. Formation flight with all aircraft from Maupertus Cherbourg Airport, to the American drop zone "La Fière" Sainte Mère-Eglise - Normandy, followed by another mass drop of all paratroopers.
Day VIII. Monday, June 10, 2019 Event end
Airborne all the way
Round Canopy Parachuting Team International
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Award winning author Damien Lewis presents his new book 'SAS Italian Job' at the D-Day Centre.

Award winning author Damien Lewis will be at the D-Day Centre tomorrow evening (Thursday 29th November 2018). #sas #wwii #visitdorset #dorsetlife #author

The bunker at the D-Day Centre with the invasion fleet inbound!

Atlantik Wall... at the D-Day Centre.

The Castletown D-Day Centre is proud to announce the completion of our new extension. Built as part of the preparations for next year's 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. The extension includes a 1940s Tea Room and a German bunker. The opening ceremony will take place at 1230 tomorrow, Friday 16th November and you are all most welcome to attend. #ww2 #exploredorset #portland #usarmy #1stinfantrydivision #2ndrangerbattalion

'Lest We Forget' #remembrance #commemorative #wwii #dorset #embarkation

Best selling author Damien Lewis will be attending the D-Day Centre to promote his latest WWII novel 'SAS Italian Job'.

We are extremely pleased to announce best selling author Damien Lewis will be attending the D-Day Centre later this month for a special evening event to promote his latest WWII novel 'SAS Italian Job'.

What a gem! Although in a relatively small building it is packed full of incredible memorabilia etc and the staff are brilliant. The fact you are encouraged to touch the exhibits etc is a real rarity and really adds to the experience. Bargain entrance charge too!

We visited today and had a fantastic time. Love the fact you can sit in/on the display vehicles and handle the majority of the items there. The staff where super friendly and helpful, you can tell they have a passion for what they display.

Thank you for a brilliant end to our holiday.

We visited the museum on the off chance as we were holidaying in Weymouth from London.

What can I say...absolutely brilliant!!!

One of the only museums I’ve been to where you can get hands on with certain artefacts like Thompson machine guns.

I highly recommend this place and to top it off there’s a tank at the entrance.

I will go back there for sure �

We live locally and this was our first visit today, really excellent. Staff are very welcoming, friendly and knowledgeable. Great that you can interact with the exhibits and there is such a lot of memorabilia. Fantastic to think it is on the actual site where it all happened. Can highly recommend it as well as the small cafe just by the entrance. Very nice lady and a nice menu, with some of the food and drinks having a wartime theme. We will definitely return

Took my Dad along on his birthday really enjoyed it and was lots of things to do. Very interesting and informative. Was good to hear about the past of Castletown during the war. Be great to take your kids as you could interact with the vehicles, guns and costumes.

This place is brilliant took my grandson who is seven, staff were helpfull had loads of knowledge and time for answers really great place fab day out would highly recommend it

This is an excellent ‘hands-on’ museum. It is great fun to play with the ‘toys’ but the excellent AV presentation also reminds visitors of the serious and tragic aspects of their past. Do not miss this fabulous historic resource.

Spent a very enjoyable couple of hours here. Very good displays and information with the opportunity to climb on and sit in various equipment and vehicles. You can also try on items of uniform and kit. The volunteers manning the centre were knowledgeable, friendly and cheerful. Definitely worth a visit.

Oh what such a fabulous little hidden gem! The staff here were so informative and helpful, chatty and just generally involved and happy to answer any questions you shot at them. I found it humbling that the staff volunteer their own time here for the public to have a family informative day out. My children are 5, my girl is a girly girl and was sceptical as she wasn’t a boy and had no interest in army� But she loved it just as much as my son. They dressed up using the dress up box, jumped in the tanks, role played for over an hour taking phone calls using the old style phone, picking up the guns and wearing the helmets. I’d love to be able to attach my pictures but I can’t. Will deff return when we visit Portland again �

I would recommend a visit and was delighted that it was interactive for all. The staff were very warm, welcoming and knowledgeable.

I visited today with my 2 boys 5 & 9 we throughly enjoyed it. I love that the children are encouraged to sit in the vehicles and shown how to use the guns and air raid siren it brings it all to life for them instead of standing behind a rope reading a board of information. The staff are lovely and all have a take to tell that adds to the experience! I totally recommend a visit to see the great collection they have here.

I had a great time. Just you enter another world. Even my partner loved the vehicles while I loved the history. The staff were incredibly friendly. Wish I could work there.

Hubby loves this place, 2nd time in 8months we have been here next time he will be bringing a little project back down with him �, the guys are fab and hubby just immersed himself in playing and have a good old chin wag� love Austin and Kirsty x

Great place to go, fully hands on to get a feel for what the soldiers carried and used. Knowledgeable team who were more than happy to talk about the items and in some cases there experience of being in Portland during the War.

Great place for a couple of hours. Informative people and nice cafe outside. Just wish they would buy the Jolly Sailor pub and turn it into a 40s venue...

Finally I got to go and see the excellent D-Day Centre at Portland's Castletown - absolutely amazed at all the items that they have been able to cram into their relatively small space. Also surprised by the fact that they let to sit on, fiddle with and generally touch all the exhibits. Well done, too, to the enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers who ensure that your visit is interesting.



The Sherman tank outside the Centre is the 'real MacCoy' and I would not be surprised if some folks locally still remember that very tank clattering through the streets on it's way to be loaded on D-Day.

Excellent day out for TheBattleBarge team, we loved every minute. Thanks for the chance to sit in some iconic vehicles and play with some big guns.

Amazing place so informative and so nice that a lovely cadet showed us how things work it made it all tear jerkingly real! Lest we forget! Xxx

Absolutely fascinating. Whilst this is a small museum what an important story is has to tell about preparations for D-Day by the Americans, locals and Castletown. It is very hands on and I am a lover of dressing-up boxes. The Volunteers were so helpful and the whole place felt very personal. Everyone should be so proud of the story & museum. Little coffee stand outside was also excellent.

What a gem! Although in a relatively small building it is packed full of incredible memorabilia etc and the staff are brilliant. The fact you are encouraged to touch the exhibits etc is a real rarity and really adds to the experience. Bargain entrance charge too!

We visited today and had a fantastic time. Love the fact you can sit in/on the display vehicles and handle the majority of the items there. The staff where super friendly and helpful, you can tell they have a passion for what they display.

Thank you for a brilliant end to our holiday.

We visited the museum on the off chance as we were holidaying in Weymouth from London.

What can I say...absolutely brilliant!!!

One of the only museums I’ve been to where you can get hands on with certain artefacts like Thompson machine guns.

I highly recommend this place and to top it off there’s a tank at the entrance.

I will go back there for sure �

We live locally and this was our first visit today, really excellent. Staff are very welcoming, friendly and knowledgeable. Great that you can interact with the exhibits and there is such a lot of memorabilia. Fantastic to think it is on the actual site where it all happened. Can highly recommend it as well as the small cafe just by the entrance. Very nice lady and a nice menu, with some of the food and drinks having a wartime theme. We will definitely return

Took my Dad along on his birthday really enjoyed it and was lots of things to do. Very interesting and informative. Was good to hear about the past of Castletown during the war. Be great to take your kids as you could interact with the vehicles, guns and costumes.

This place is brilliant took my grandson who is seven, staff were helpfull had loads of knowledge and time for answers really great place fab day out would highly recommend it

This is an excellent ‘hands-on’ museum. It is great fun to play with the ‘toys’ but the excellent AV presentation also reminds visitors of the serious and tragic aspects of their past. Do not miss this fabulous historic resource.

Spent a very enjoyable couple of hours here. Very good displays and information with the opportunity to climb on and sit in various equipment and vehicles. You can also try on items of uniform and kit. The volunteers manning the centre were knowledgeable, friendly and cheerful. Definitely worth a visit.

Oh what such a fabulous little hidden gem! The staff here were so informative and helpful, chatty and just generally involved and happy to answer any questions you shot at them. I found it humbling that the staff volunteer their own time here for the public to have a family informative day out. My children are 5, my girl is a girly girl and was sceptical as she wasn’t a boy and had no interest in army� But she loved it just as much as my son. They dressed up using the dress up box, jumped in the tanks, role played for over an hour taking phone calls using the old style phone, picking up the guns and wearing the helmets. I’d love to be able to attach my pictures but I can’t. Will deff return when we visit Portland again �

I would recommend a visit and was delighted that it was interactive for all. The staff were very warm, welcoming and knowledgeable.

I visited today with my 2 boys 5 & 9 we throughly enjoyed it. I love that the children are encouraged to sit in the vehicles and shown how to use the guns and air raid siren it brings it all to life for them instead of standing behind a rope reading a board of information. The staff are lovely and all have a take to tell that adds to the experience! I totally recommend a visit to see the great collection they have here.

I had a great time. Just you enter another world. Even my partner loved the vehicles while I loved the history. The staff were incredibly friendly. Wish I could work there.

Hubby loves this place, 2nd time in 8months we have been here next time he will be bringing a little project back down with him �, the guys are fab and hubby just immersed himself in playing and have a good old chin wag� love Austin and Kirsty x

Great place to go, fully hands on to get a feel for what the soldiers carried and used. Knowledgeable team who were more than happy to talk about the items and in some cases there experience of being in Portland during the War.

Great place for a couple of hours. Informative people and nice cafe outside. Just wish they would buy the Jolly Sailor pub and turn it into a 40s venue...

Finally I got to go and see the excellent D-Day Centre at Portland's Castletown - absolutely amazed at all the items that they have been able to cram into their relatively small space. Also surprised by the fact that they let to sit on, fiddle with and generally touch all the exhibits. Well done, too, to the enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers who ensure that your visit is interesting.



The Sherman tank outside the Centre is the 'real MacCoy' and I would not be surprised if some folks locally still remember that very tank clattering through the streets on it's way to be loaded on D-Day.

Excellent day out for TheBattleBarge team, we loved every minute. Thanks for the chance to sit in some iconic vehicles and play with some big guns.

Amazing place so informative and so nice that a lovely cadet showed us how things work it made it all tear jerkingly real! Lest we forget! Xxx

Absolutely fascinating. Whilst this is a small museum what an important story is has to tell about preparations for D-Day by the Americans, locals and Castletown. It is very hands on and I am a lover of dressing-up boxes. The Volunteers were so helpful and the whole place felt very personal. Everyone should be so proud of the story & museum. Little coffee stand outside was also excellent.