[a] The memorial records the names of 22,442 people from more than 30 countries under British command who were killed in Normandy from 6 June to 31 August 1944 .

[1] The Normandy landings began just after midnight on 6 June 1944, with a glider assault to capture the Caen canal and Orne river bridges.

About an hour later, due to different tide conditions along the coast, British and Canadian forces landed on Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches, from Port-en-Bessin in the west to Ouistreham in the east.

[5] The stonework was made by the stonemasons S. McConnell and Sons at their works in Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland, using 4,000 tons of French limestone from Massangis.

The centrepiece of the memorial is a bronze sculpture by David Williams-Ellis, with larger than life size statues of three soldiers coming ashore during the D-Day landings.

At the centre of the quadrangle is a bronze wreath and shield by French sculptors Valentine Herrenschmidt and Christophe Charbonnel [fr] on a stone plinth bearing an inscription of words from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Westminster Abbey.