The 2026 D-Day Memorial Parade and Ceremony provides a musical salute to the fallen in Normandy, France. Friends and family of the Tarleton State University Band will have an opportunity to watch the band perform in a Memorial Ceremony as well as a concert on stage in Sainte-Mere-Eglise as part of the Concert De Liberation. You will also have the opportunity of walking with the Band in the D-Day Memorial Parade among thousands of enthusiastic and grateful French Citizens and Visitors.  The Friends and Family tour will also shadow the band as they take in the rich history and culture in Normandy and Paris, France.

- Overnight flight from the US to Paris (RT airfare from Dallas to Paris included in the tour price)

- Arrive in Paris - meet your tour manager outside of baggage claim (all participants must arrive before 10:00am)

- Depart on your private motor coach for Normandy (approximately 3-hour drive). You will make a lunch stop en route. Lunch (on own)

- Visit overlook at Arromanches. It was on the beach of Arromanches that, during the Invasion of Normandy immediately after D-Day, the Allies established an artificial temporary harbor to allow the unloading of heavy equipment without waiting for the conquest of deep-water ports such as Le Havre or Cherbourg

- Depart for the hotel for check in and overnight – Dinner provided at your hotel

- European style breakfast provided at the hotel

-Transfer to Mont St. Michel for a visit of this one-of-a-kind medieval town and fortress abbey (entrance to abbey on own)

- Lunch on own

- Visit to Point du Hoc and Omaha Beach

- Depart for the hotel for overnight

- Group dinner provided at the hotel

- European style breakfast provided at the hotel 

- Transfer to Sainte-Mère-Église, the first town liberated by American paratroopers on D-Day, to explore the town and prepare for the D-Day Memorial Parade

- Performance in the town square as part of the Musical Salute to Liberation

- Participate in the D-Day Memorial Parade through the village of Sainte-Mère-Église

- Special dinner provided for all Tarleton State University Band members, staff, alumni, family, and friends 

- Final evening in Normandy

- European style breakfast provided at the hotel

- Transfer to Utah Beach for the D-Day Commemoration Ceremony. The World War II Utah Beach American Memorial commemorates the achievements of U.S. VII Corps forces that landed and fought in the liberation of the Cotentin Peninsula from June 6, 1944, to July 1, 1944.

- Transfer to the Normandy American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. Visit the Cemetery and Visitors Center. The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 and the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. 

- Transfer to Paris

- Dinner and overnight at your Paris area hotel

- European style breakfast provided at the hotel

- Morning to enjoy a Seine River cruise with guided tour narration

- Lunch on own

- Afternoon of shopping and sightseeing in Paris

- Dinner on own this evening

- Return to the hotel for overnight

- European style breakfast provided at the hotel 

- Morning to visit Versailles 

- Lunch on own

- Afternoon of shopping and sightseeing in Paris

- Final evening and farewell dinner in Montmartre. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit. Many artists had studios or worked in or around Montmartre, including Salvador Dalí, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro and Vincent van Gogh. 

- Return to your hotel for overnight 

Transfer to the airport for our flights home.