The cemetery contains 9,380 graves, most of them for servicemen who lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. Shay then took part in a commemoration at the American Cemetery later in the day in Colleville-sur-Mer, on a bluff overseeing Omaha Beach, in the presence of officials from the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany and other allied countries. He landed with his team in Normandy on June 12, 1944, to replace officers who had died in the first days of the fight. army medic on Jand now calls Normandy home, was the only surviving D-Day veteran at the Ver-sur-Mer ceremony.Īnother veteran of the Battle of Normandy, British Capt. France is forever grateful."Ĭharles Shay, a Penobscot Native American who landed as an U.S. was a lightning bolt of freedom," French Defense Minister Florence Parly told the ceremony. On June 6, 1944, "In the heart of the mist that enveloped the Normandy Coast. Prince Charles, speaking via video link, expressed regret that he couldn't attend in person. Giant screens showed D-Day veterans gathered simultaneously at Britain's National Memorial Aboretum to watch the Normandy event remotely. Visitors stood to salute the more than 22,000 men and women, mostly British soldiers, whose names are etched on its stone columns. The new monument pays tribute to those under British command who died on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy.Ī text carved on the wall writes: "They died so that Europe might be free." Socially distanced participants stood in awe at the solemnity and serenity of the site, providing a spectacular and poignant view over Gold Beach and the English Channel. Only a few officials were allowed exceptions.Īt the newly-built British Normandy Memorial near the village of Ver-sur-Mer, bagpipes played memorial tunes and warplanes zipped overhead trailing red-white-and-blue smoke. This year on June 6, the beaches stood vast and nearly empty as the sun emerged, exactly 77 years since the dawn invasion.įor the second year in a row, anniversary commemorations are marked by virus travel restrictions that prevented veterans or families of fallen soldiers from the U.S., Britain, Canada and other Allied countries from making the trip to France. On D-Day, more than 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches code-named Omaha, Utah, Juno, Sword and Gold, carried by 7,000 boats. "These are the men who enabled liberty to regain a foothold on the European continent, and who in the days and weeks that followed lifted the shackles of tyranny, hedgerow by Normandy hedgerow, mile by bloody mile," Britain's ambassador to France, Lord Edward Llewellyn, said at the inauguration of a new British monument to D-Day's heroes. The 77th anniversary of D-Day was marked Sunday with several events to commemorate the decisive assault that led to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi control, and honor those who fell. Only a few officials were allowed exemptions.When the sun rises over Omaha Beach, revealing vast stretches of wet sand extending toward distant cliffs, one starts to grasp the immensity of the task faced by Allied soldiers on June 6, 1944, landing on the Nazi-occupied Normandy shore. This year on June 6, the beaches stood vast and nearly empty as the sun emerged, exactly 77 years since the dawn invasion.įor the second year in a row, anniversary commemorations were marked by COVID-19 travel restrictions that prevented veterans or families of fallen soldiers from the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada and other Allied countries from making the trip to France. The 77th anniversary of D-Day was marked Sunday with several events to commemorate the decisive assault that led to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi control, and honour those who fell. When the sun rises over Omaha Beach, revealing vast stretches of wet sand extending toward distant cliffs, one starts to grasp the immensity of the task faced by Allied soldiers on June 6, 1944, landing on the Nazi-occupied Normandy shore.
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