D-Day Veterans Return to Normandy

Veterans gathered Friday in Normandy to mark the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings—a pivotal moment of World War II that eventually led to the collapse of Adolf Hitler's regime. Along the coastline and near the D-Day landing beaches, tens of thousands of onlookers attended the commemorations, which included parachute jumps, flyovers, remembrance ceremonies, parades, and historical reenactments. Many were there to cheer the ever-dwindling number of surviving veterans in their late 90s and older, the AP reports. All remembered the thousands who died.

• Harold Terens, a 101-year-old US veteran who last year married his 96-year-old sweetheart near the D-Day beaches, was back in Normandy. "Freedom is everything," he said. "I pray for freedom for the whole world. For the war to end in Ukraine, and Russia, and Sudan and Gaza. I think war is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting."

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth commemorated the anniversary at the American Cemetery overlooking the shore in the village of Colleville-sur-Mer.
• French Minister for the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu told Hegseth that France knows what it owes to its American allies and the veterans who helped free Europe from the Nazis. "We don't forget that our oldest allies were there in this grave moment of our history. I say it with deep respect in front of you, veterans, who incarnate this unique friendship between our two countries," he said.
• Hegseth said France and the United States should be prepared to fight if danger arises again, and that "good men are still needed to stand up." "Today the United States and France again rally together to confront such threats," he said, without mentioning a specific enemy.
• Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed on D-Day. Of those, 73,000 were from the US and 83,000 from Britain and Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops fighting with Gen. Charles de Gaulle. A total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed on D-Day itself. In the ensuing Battle of Normandy, 73,000 Allied forces were killed and 153,000 wounded.

(More D-Day stories.)