The British Royal Mail has been forced into an embarrassing climb-down after a stamp that it had issued as part of a commemorative set marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day turned out to feature an image of American troops landing in the Pacific Theatre during World War Two.
The company proudly announced on Thursday on Twitter that “It’s time, our 2019 Special Stamp calendar has been revealed! Showcasing the ‘Best of British’ the programme features a range of subjects: from a celebration of the UK’s Birds of Prey to the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings”.
Within minutes, however, eagle-eyed Twitter users were pointing out that the image in question – which featured the caption ‘Allied soldiers and medics wade ashore’ – wasn’t from the 1944 invasion of Normandy but instead from a solely American landing on an island in the Pacific Ocean.
While American troops did form a large part of the Allied Forces who began the liberation of France on June 6, 1944, the landing craft shown in the image was immediately recognisable as a craft that wasn’t
“Oh dear, this is not very good,” tweeted Spitfires of the Sea. “The below images are @RoyalMailStamps's preview of its 2019 "Best of British" series that will commemorate D-Day. Sadly the D-Day stamp photo is not D-Day and the troops aren't British”.
“The image chosen actually depicts US troops disembarking from LCI(L) 30 at Dutch New Guinea in May 1944. It's a US Coast Guard photo and was published in All Hands magazine shortly after”.
A spokeswoman for Royal Mail said: “We would like to offer our sincere apologies that our preview release for our 2019 Special Stamp programme included a stamp design that 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.”