OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — As young soldiers, they I walked through crashing waves and gunfire To fight the Nazis, an aging, frail and dwindling number of World War II veterans joined a new generation of leaders on Thursday to honor the dead, the living and those who fought for democracy on the beaches where they landed 80 years ago during the Normandy landings.
of Ukraine War It cast a shadow over the Normandy ceremony, a tragic example of modern times. Life and the City Countries once again suffering from war in Europe. The Ukrainian president was greeted with a standing ovation and cheers. Russia, a key ally in World War II that has set Europe on a new path of war in 2022 with its all-out invasion of its smaller neighbor, was not invited.
80 years since the D-Day landings
- Events of the day: of Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France It was unprecedented in scale and audacity, using the largest fleet, men, planes and vehicles in history to change the course of World War II.
- AP was there: On D-Day, the Associated Press Reporters, artists and photographers in the airThey were deployed to ports of departure and airfields to cover the Allied attacks on the rough waters of the English Channel, London, and Normandy.
- live: Watch Associated Press’ live coverage of memorials and vigils around the worldAt Bayeux War Cemetery, 4,600 graves of military casualties from World War II will be illuminated and candlelit. King Charles III of England and US President Joe Biden Among those expected to attend are:
Commemorative Events Over 4,400 Allied dead D-Day soldiers and tens of thousands of other soldiers Including French civiliansThose who died in the Battle of Normandy The lessons of World War II are fading.
“There are things worth fighting for,” tank warrior Walter Stitt, who turns 100 in July, said during a visit to Omaha Beach this week. “I wish there was some other way to do it than to kill each other.”
“We’ll find out one day, but I won’t be around then,” he said.
US President Joe Biden has directly linked Ukraine’s fight for a young democracy to the fight to defeat Nazi Germany.
“It’s simply unthinkable that we would ever give in to a bully, or give in to a dictator,” Biden said. “If we did that, we would forget what happened on this sacred beach.”
Veterans over 100 years old look back on their memories. Fallen comrades buried in a cemetery in NormandyUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s attendance at the international commemoration of the Normandy landings fused the brutal World War II past with the tense present, with Ukrainian deaths and injuries on both sides estimated at hundreds of thousands.
Although Russia did not attend, French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to those who fought on the eastern front and to “the firm determination of the Red Army and all those who served in the then Soviet Union.”
But it was the landings on June 6, 1944 and the subsequent fighting in Normandy that finally drove the Nazis out of France.
“You came here because the free world needed each and every one of you. And you answered the call,” Macron said. “You came here to make France a free country. Today, you can say that you have come home.”
The French president awarded the Legion of Honor to 14 U.S. veterans and one female British veteran. Among the Americans was pilot Edward Berthold, who flew three missions over France in May 1944 and later participated in the Normandy landings during the Normandy landings. He flew a total of 35 combat missions during World War II.
The next day, Bertholdt read aloud a letter he had written home, showing that even at a young age he recognized the significance of D-Day.
“Wednesday evening, June 7, 1944. Dear Mother, I wrote just a few lines to let you know that we are all safe. We flew our 10th mission on D-Day,” he wrote. “What we saw was indeed a magnificent spectacle. Everyone was looking forward to it.”
Macron also awarded the Légion d’honneur to Christiane Lamb, 103, the daughter of a British admiral who studied in Normandy but was recalled to London in 1939 when her father returned. There, she created detailed maps to guide the landing craft crews during the Normandy invasion.
The French president bent over Ms Lam, who was in a wheelchair, pinned her medal on, kissed her on both cheeks and described her as one of France’s “unsung heroes”.
For World War II veterans, conscious of the inevitability of age and time, throngs of enthusiasts dressed in period uniforms and vehicles, and tourists just taking in the spectacle, descended on Normandy for the 80th anniversary. At the international ceremony that followed, veterans received a standing ovation as they marched past the stands in a stately line of wheelchairs, sparing them a long walk along the seafront promenade.
“We must never forget the sacrifices of all those who gave us our freedom,” said Becky Kraubetts, a Briton who now lives in Florida. Her grandfather served in the British army during World War II and was taken prisoner in Malta. She was among the thousands who gathered along several kilometers of Utah Beach, the westernmost stretch of the Normandy landings.
In a quiet spot away from the glitz, Christophe Lesevour of France paid his own tribute by raising an American flag he had purchased during a trip to Pennsylvania to commemorate those who died in the Normandy landings.
“To forget them is to let them die again,” the 57-year-old said as he and his daughter Julie carefully folded the flag into a triangle, with those now dying in Ukraine fighting invading Russian forces also on his mind.
“All these soldiers came to liberate a country that knew no ideology of democracy or freedom, and that ideology is now under great pressure,” he said.
Warren Goss, a 99-year-old American veteran of the Normandy landings and one of the first to land on Utah Beach, became convinced of the sacrifice when, years later, he visited the same spot where his comrades fell.
“I looked at the beach and it was so beautiful. Everyone was there, children playing, boys and girls walking hand in hand, life was back,” he told the Danish king and prime minister, who listened to him.
At five beaches codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juneau and Sword, World War II-era jeeps and trucks roamed hedgerow-lined paths that were dangerous for Allied troops battling German troops holed up in trenches, and re-enactors played out war games on the sand where Normandy landings soldiers fell, creating a fair-like atmosphere.
But the real VIPs at the commemorations along the Normandy coast were the veterans of the largest land, sea and air fleet in history that broke through Hitler’s defenses in Western Europe and helped hasten his downfall 11 months later.
“They really were a golden generation, 17- and 18-year-olds doing brave things,” said James Baker, 56, of Holland, recalling his time at Utah Beach.
Along the coast, at Gold Beach, military bagpipers were playing at the exact moment British troops landed 80 years ago.
Britain’s King Charles III and Chancellor Rishi Sunak attended a ceremony honouring the troops who landed there and at Sword Beach, while Prince William and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended a ceremony for the Canadian troops at Juno Beach.
In his speech, the king told the crowd that the world was fortunate to have a generation that “did not flinch” when called upon.
“Our obligation never diminishes to remember what they stood for and what they accomplished for us,” he said.
Speaking in French, President Charles also paid tribute to the “unimaginable numbers” of French civilians who died in the Battle of Normandy, as well as the courage and sacrifice of the French Resistance.
Among those who traveled to Normandy Among millions of women They built weapons such as bombers and tanks, and played a key role in World War II For a long time they were overshadowed by the combat achievements of humans.
Some in wheelchairs, others walking with canes, they are welcomed wherever they go, repeating aloud the message that veterans hope will live on forever: “We will never forget.”
“I didn’t do it for the glory or the awards. I did it to save my country,” said Anna Mae Clear, 98, who worked as a riveter building B-17 and B-29 bombers. “In the end, I helped save the world.”
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Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London and Jeffrey Schafer, Mark Carlson, Bella Chandelsky, Helena Alves and Alex Turnbull along the Normandy coast contributed to this report.