When We Went In: The D-Day Experience in Light and Sound

It’s the immersive experience everyone is still talking about and asking to see again!
When We Went In, the National D-Day Memorial’s exclusive, nighttime masterpiece is back by popular demand with a new prelude to honor America’s 250th anniversary!
Created for the National D-Day Memorial by the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology at Virginia Tech – When We Went In is an immersive nighttime presentation that transforms the Memorial’s grounds into a stunning, multi-media sensory experience. Using the Memorial itself as the dramatic backdrop for the narrative, this outdoor show retells the story of the Normandy invasion through first-hand accounts of the men and women who lived through June 6, 1944, with authentic film footage, archival photographs, and wartime illustrations. The soundscape – from the roar of aircraft and gunfire to moments of solemn silence – delivered in surround-sound makes viewers feel as if they are in the throes of the historical moment and the triumph of eventual victory. The combined light-and-sound storytelling approach creates a vivid re-enactment of D-Day’s pivotal events, aiming to educate and emotionally engage the audience with the experiences of those who were there.
The show’s title comes from the first line of “Omaha Beach,” a poem by World War II veteran Peter Thomas. Thomas’s poetic account of landing at Omaha Beach acts as a thread connecting the entire narrative experience. Throughout the presentation, the words of participants – drawn from letters, oral histories, and diaries – give voice to the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and nurses of D-Day. Grounded in these true stories and memories, rather than fictional dramatization, When We Went In is as close as it gets to having lived D-Day.
When We Went In exceeded attendance estimates during its first run in June 2024, as part of the Memorial’s 80th anniversary of D-Day commemoration events. The intimate, shared experience connected with a modern audience while conveying the hope and fear that young participants felt on D-Day.
Crowd Favorite Letters From Home to Open Show Each Night
Erinn Dearth and Dan Beckmann are Letters From Home
The Memorial is proud to welcome back Letters From Home. Featuring high-energy singing and tap-dancing performances by ​founder Erinn Dearth and self-proclaimed “tall guy” Dan Beckmann, Letters From Home infuses the classic style of war-time music with a witty, modern edge. Funny and heartfelt, harmonic and uplifting, Letters From Home has performed more than 1,000 shows across the world including singing at the 75th anniversary of D-Day commemoration in Normandy, entertaining Battle of the Bulge veterans in Belgium, a 50-states tour in 2023, and at the National D-Day Memorial during the 80th anniversary of D-Day events in 2024.