SLAPTON SANDS, England — On a beach in England, an art installation commemorates more than 700 U.S. troops killed in a little-known World War II tragedy.
An artist created the moving memorial, which represents the boot prints left in the sand by Americans who died there in April 1944.
Sunday was the 75th anniversary of the "Exercise Tiger" tragedy. The British beach of Slapton Sands was the scene of the large-scale rehearsal for the D-day invasion more than five weeks later. The exercise involved 3,000 ships and 300,000 men.
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The rehearsal turned to disaster when the D-day landing practice was attacked by German torpedo boats, and 749 U.S. soldiers and sailors were killed.
The episode is one of the least-known Allied disasters of World War II. The casualties from Exercise Tiger were not announced until nearly two months after the Normandy invasion, and full details were not known until 1974, when the records were declassified.
The charity "There But Not There" created the installation, which will raise money for veteran employment projects.
NBC
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