28 December 2018
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Royal Mail have been heavily criticised for using the incorrect image on a planned D-Day Landings stamp, which was revealed as part of the 2019 programme earlier this week, with the stamp showing US soldiers thousands of miles away from France.
The new stamp design was revealed as part of the 2019 stamp programme launch on 27 December, and featured a black and white photograph of soldiers wading through the sea at the landing in what was said to be Normandy, France. The design featured the caption: 'Allied soldiers and medics wade ashore'.
However, it was quickly revealed that photograph on the stamp design actually showed US soldiers landing in what was then Dutch New Guinea, thousands of miles away from France.
The image used for the stamp preview can be found on the National WWII Museum website, with the caption: 'TROOPS CARRY STRETCHERS FROM A LANDING CRAFT AT SARMI, DUTCH NEW GUINEA, 17 MARY 1944'.
Twitter users soon noticed the mistake and comments on Royal Mail's 2019 announcement tweet included:
'Wouldn't it be better if your D-Day stamp featured BRITISH troops landing on the Normandy beaches and NOT American troops landing somewhere in the Pacific!' - @RobScot46524732
'Your inability to deliver post to the correct address in North London suddenly makes a lot more sense if you’re going to mistake Indonesia for Normandy.' - @beard_minis
The planned stamp set will mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landing and follows a similar set of stamps issued in June 1994 to mark the 50th anniversary of D-Day.
According to the BBC, a Royal Mail spokesperson said:
'We work very hard to ensure that our Special Stamp programme appropriately commemorates anniversaries and events that are relevant to UK heritage and life.
'We would like to offer our sincere apologies that our preview release for our 2019 Special Stamp programme included a stamp design which had been incorrectly associated with the D-Day landings.
'We can confirm that this image will not be part of the final set, which will be issued in June 2019.'
Your inability to deliver post to the correct address in North London suddenly makes a lot more sense if you’re going to mistake Indonesia for Normandy.
— Beardminis (@beard_minis) December 28, 2018
Wouldn't it be better if your D-Day stamp featured BRITISH troops landing on the Normandy beaches and NOT American troops landing somewhere in the Pacific!
— Rob Scott (@RobScot46524732) December 27, 2018