DD336
King & Country
Similar to DD335 but with a different hull number (for those collectors wanting two LCVP’s for their collection). The standing cox’n with raised right arm is also unique to this second version. DD336 has a cox’n gripping the steering wheel with both hands.
All crew on both LCVPs are wearing the American supplied and much preferred U.S. Navy-style inflatable Life Vests together with their British steel helmets and white anti flash hoods, more for warmth than as a fire retardant protection.
In a 1964 interview former President and Supreme Allied Commander of the Normandy invasion, Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke about one of the most important war-winning weapons of the Second World War... the humble ‘Higgins Boat’ and the man who designed it.
“Andrew Higgins is the man who won the war for us. He designed and built those Landing Craft that could put troops onto an open beach anywhere, anytime. Without these LCVPs (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel) the whole strategy of the war would have been very different... and much more difficult!”
That is just one of the many reasons why this particular landing craft is such an essential part of any D. DAY collection and forms the central element of King & Country’s latest selection of figures and fighting vehicles that depict the events of 6 June 1944 and the battle for Normandy that followed it...