Veterans and world leaders have gathered in Normandy, France, to mark the 80th anniversary of the June 6, 1944 D-Day landings, when more than 150,000 Allied soldiers arrived in the country by sea and air to drive out the forces of Nazi Germany.
With war raging in Ukraine, this year’s commemoration of this key turning point in World War II carries special resonance. Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, was not invited.
The anniversary on Thursday is being marked in a year of many elections, including for the European Parliament this week and in the United States in November. Leaders are set to draw parallels with World War II and warn of the dangers of isolationism and the far right.
“Democracy is literally on the ballot this year,” US President Joe Biden said before travelling to France, saying sacrifices from D-Day must not be given up.
At Arromanches-les-Bains, one of the beaches where Allied forces landed 80 years ago, a small crowd gathered on the beach at low tide Thursday morning. They were joined by a collection of World War II jeeps. Later, an amphibious vehicle came ashore carrying a bagpiper and playing melancholic tunes.
The number of veterans, many of them over 100 years old, is dwindling so fast that this will likely be the last major ceremony to honour them in their presence in Normandy.
About 200 veterans, most of them American or British, plan to take part in a ceremony later that day on windswept beaches that still bear the scars of the battles of D-Day, the largest amphibious invasion in history, involving thousands of Allied troops. Soldiers died.
Among the participants was 101-year-old Bob Gibson, who was with the second wave of soldiers who landed on Utah Beach in Normandy.
“It feels like yesterday. You wouldn’t believe what I saw. It’s awful. Some of the young people never made it to Main Beach… It wakes me up at night sometimes,” he told Reuters.
Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British King Charles, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and many other politicians attended the commemorations held around the area.
The ceremony began at 8:30 GMT on August 8 with a British ceremony in Ver-sur-Mer. King Charles, who led the commemorations, said that while the number of living veterans is declining, “our resolve to never forget what they represented and what they did for all of us must never wane.”
Speaking in English and French, he paid tribute to the “unimaginable number” of French civilians killed in the Battle of Normandy, as well as the courage and sacrifice of the French Resistance.
“Let us pray that such sacrifices will never have to be made again,” he said. “Our gratitude is infinite and our praise eternal.”
During a break in campaigning for the UK general election on July 4, Mr Sunak paid tribute to military veterans, saying their “actions liberated a continent and created a better world”.
“You risked everything and we owe you everything,” he said. “We can never hope to repay this debt, but we can and must pledge to never forget.”
Speaking at a Canadian ceremony on Juno Beach near Courseulles-sur-Mer, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the world must continue to stand up for democracy.
“Democracy remains under threat today, threatened by aggressors who want to redraw borders,” he said. “Our way of life did not come about by chance, and cannot continue without effort.
There is also war going on in the Middle East and elsewhere, and some people visited fallen soldiers at the American Cemetery and prayed for peace,” paying their final respects in Colleville-sur-Mer.
“It’s very moving to see that so many young men are buried here,” said 66-year-old Brigitte Perdrix, from the nearby city of Trouville.
“A tribute to them would be for the atrocities and wars ongoing now to stop. It would be like a rose placed on each grave.”