The Royal Mail of Britain came under fire for planning to release a stamp marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day by using an image of U.S. forces landing in Asia - about 8,500 miles from Normandy Beach.
Captioned “Allied soldiers and medics wade ashore,” the stamp was meant to depict the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, in France — but was actually taken in Indonesia on May 17, 1944, The New York Times reported.
The image appears on the American National WWII Museum website, and is attributed to the U.S. Coast Guard, and is said to show troops carrying stretchers from a landing craft at Sarmi, Dutch New Guinea.
The stamp — which was expected to be released next year in a “Best of British” collection — sparked a backlash on social media during a Thursday preview.
Though some posters made fun of the gaffe, others found it disrespectful.
“Wrong theatre; wrong date; wrong vessel; wrong troops. This gross insult to veterans and those who didn’t make it should be withdrawn,” wrote Andy Saunders, a history consultant.
On Friday, the Royal Mail apologized.
“I am sincerely sorry for this mistake and the hurt it has caused, in particular to veterans and those who lost loved ones,” Stephen Agar, who is in charge of letters at Royal Mail, said in a statement, the Times reported.
“I would like to reassure them, our people and our customers that this stamp will not be part of our set to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.”
Royal Mail announced no stamps with the wrong vessels and beach had been actually printed. The errors were caught in time to correct for the rollout in June.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.