Thousands of Veterans Join in Normandy Ceremonies
Thousands of World War II veterans participated Saturday in ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary today of the D-day landings in Normandy, amid one of the biggest security operations on French soil.
About 30,000 soldiers were deployed to protect the weekend ceremonies, to be attended today by 17 world leaders, including President Bush and three monarchs.
Antiaircraft missile batteries, warplanes and helicopters were in the Normandy area of northern France to protect a “no-fly” zone between the ports of Cherbourg and Deauville.
A flotilla of ships set off from Portsmouth, Britain, for Caen in Normandy, carrying veterans who had braved fierce Nazi gunfire to land on the Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944.
A memorial was also to be unveiled in Les Mesnil in Normandy to the most senior surviving British officer from D-day, Brig. James Hill, 93.
“The thing that sticks in my heart and mind today, just as clearly as it did in those days, was the fact that as we set off, the wounded all gave us a cheer,” he said. “An hour or two later there was nobody left alive.”
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