Fox News – The 71st anniversary of World War II’s D-Day invasion was remembered Saturday at a cemetery in France overlooking Omaha Beach and, closer to home, by U.S. vets who bore witness to the horrors of “The Longest Day.”
Jacob Cutler, of Long Island, told Newsday the passage of time had made it easier for him to share his experiences as a private clinging to the base of a cliff on Omaha under withering German fire.
He told the paper he stands in awe of what was achieved by the 156,000 Allied troops sent ashore on D-Day on the beaches of Normandy.
Visitors and cadets from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, bowed their heads during the cemetery’s D-Day remembrance and stood silently during a parade of bagpipers.
Another D-Day commemoration took place Saturday at another Normandy landmark not far away, the Cathedral Bayeux. There British serviceman stood shoulder to shoulder to remember fallen comrades at an event organized by the Royal British Legion.
British Chaplain Patrick Irwin told the old veterans “we thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” BT.com reported.
“Your historic achievements will remain as one of the defining moments in the history of the last century,” Irwin said.
As bells tolled following the service, British D-Day veteran Victor Mackenzie, 91, told the website “it’s always very emotive. It really is.”
“You have to think of those who never came back,” he added. “It’s with you every day. It’s one of those things. Coming back to the cathedral brings back so many memories.”
The number of Allied troops who died on D-Day was 4,413, including 2,499 Americans, as tallied by the D-Day Museum in England.
The invasion began shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944, with a perilous airborne operation led by paratroopers of the “Screaming Eagles” 101st Airborne and the 82nd Airborne divisions.
At dawn, thousands of Allied troops leaped out of landing craft to storm the beaches under ferocious German attacks.