D-Day veterans mark invasion
anniversary
Veterans of the 1944
Normandy landings gathered Thursday at the site of history's largest amphibious
invasion for a day of ceremonies marking D-Day's 69th anniversary.
The Associated Press
REMY DE LA MAUVINIERE / AP
U.S. veterans salute during the
national anthems at a ceremony held at the Memorial of the Colleville American
military cemetery, in Colleville sur Mer, western France, Thursday June 6,
2013, on the 69th anniversary of D-Day. From left: Melbert Hillert, 91, from
Fresco, Texas, Earl Tweed, 91, from Dallas, Robert Blatnik, 93 from Raleigh,
Texas, Robert Bearden, 90, from Belton, Texas, and Joseph J. Turecky, 91, from
Dallas.
COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France —
Veterans of the 1944 Normandy landings gathered Thursday at the site of
history's largest amphibious invasion for a day of ceremonies marking D-Day's
69th anniversary.
Around two dozen US vets, some in
their old uniforms pinned with medals, stood and saluted during a wreath-laying
ceremony at the memorial overlooking Omaha Beach, where a U.S. cemetery holds
the remains of over 9,000 Americans who died during the vicious battle to storm
the French beach under withering Nazi fire.
Commemorations of the June, 6, 1944,
battle began in respectful silence early Thursday morning, with the
stars-and-stripes raised in a quiet ceremony at the cemetery.
Tourists, many from the U.S. and
Britain, gathered under a brilliant spring sky to witness the flag-raising amid
the neat rows of thousands of white marble crosses and stars of David marking
the graves of U.S. servicemen and women fallen in the Allied invasion of Normandy.
On June 6, 1944, Allied forces led
by General Dwight D. Eisenhower stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, on
"D-Day," beginning the liberation of German-occupied Western Europe
during World War II.
A full day of ceremonies - including
fireworks, concerts and marches - was taking place across Normandy in honor of
the more than 150,000 troops, mainly U.S., British and Canadian, who risked or
gave their lives in the invasion.
"The tide has turned. The free
men of the world are marching together to victory!" Eisenhower said in an
historic address after the invasion was launched.
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