D-Day: 80th anniversary ceremonies kick off with parachute jump over Normandy

CARENTAN-LES-MARAIS, France — A week of D-Day ceremonies kicked off Sunday over the skies of Normandy, where parachutists jumped from World War II-era planes to mark the 80th anniversary of the largest amphibious invasion in history.

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On June 6, 1944, more than 150,000 Allied forces stormed the beaches in France as part of Operation Overlord, an offensive action designed to lay the groundwork to free Europe and ultimately defeat Nazi Germany in 1945, Reuters reported. The landing was followed by the Battle of Normandy as the Allies pushed slowly through France toward Germany.

According to the National D-Day Memorial Necrology Project website, 4,415 Allied forces -- including 2,502 Americans -- were killed on the first day at Normandy.

Many of the surviving soldiers from that day are in their late 90s and older, and the number of veterans continues to dwindle, The Associated Press reported.

“We realize we’re getting to the end of our time,” 99-year-old Jack Foy told CNN.

Major commemorations are held every five years, and government officials concede that this year’s event could be the last to involve living veterans, according to the cable news outlet.

“We are perfectly aware that for these centenarians, this is maybe the last chance to return to the beaches where they landed, where they fought and where their brothers-in-arms fell,” Gen. Michel Delion, the CEO of the French government agency in charge of the French commemoration efforts, Mission Liberation, told CNN.

Leaders from around the world, including President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, will attend the ceremonies at Normandy, The Washington Post reported. Other leaders include German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, according to the newspaper. Britain’s King Charles, Queen Camilla and Prince William are also expected to attend, the BBC reported.

Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, were not extended invitations because of that country’s war against Ukraine, the Post reported. Putin attended the 70th-anniversary ceremonies, according to the newspaper.

Approximately 4,500 guests are expected, including about 200 veterans, Reuters reported. The veterans will mostly come from the U.S., United Kingdom, France and Canada.

U.S. Army veteran Jake Larson, who is 101, is among those returning to Normandy, according to the news organization. John Desrosiers, the director of international operations for Veterans Affairs Canada, said the oldest veterans who will attend the ceremonies are 104, CNN reported.

On Sunday, C-47s dropped 70 parachute jumpers, all dressed in World War II-style uniforms, the AP reported. A large crowd cheered as they were serenaded by tunes from Glenn Miller and Edith Piaf, according to the news organization.

Two of the planes -- christened “That’s All, Brother” and “Placid Lassie, " were D-Day veterans, the AP reported. They took off from Duxford, England, for the 90-minute flight to Carentan, France. The Normandy town was where many paratroopers landed shortly after midnight on D-Day. Many jumped into the darkness and were scattered far from their objectives, according to the news organization.

They landed before the naval and aerial assaults to help secure roads and bridges, and to destroy gun emplacements that put the Allies landing on the beaches -- called Omaha, Juno, Gold, Utah and Sword -- in peril, the AP reported.

“World War II, especially in Europe, becomes this ongoing battle from basically the moment troops land on the beaches of D-Day until Germany ultimately surrenders,” Ben Brands, a military historian at the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), told CNN. “The human mind needs to cut that up into digestible stories, and D-Day is a really powerful, discrete event that is so critical for everything that comes after.

“There’s just so many powerful stories that come out of D-Day.”

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