Tearful veterans gather in Normandy to pay tribute to their fallen brothers as parachutists recreate historic D-Day invasion in moving display to mark 80th anniversary
Tearful D-Day veterans have gathered in Normandy to pay tribute to their fallen brothers ahead of the 80th anniversary of the historic day.
More than 30 former military personnel made the ferry crossing from Portsmouth harbor yesterday, compared to more than 200 in 2019.
During the journey across the Channel, a wreath was thrown into the sea by Harry Birdsall, 98, and Alec Penstone, 98, in memory of those who never made it to land.
Four veterans then walked along Sword Beach with military personnel, in honor of their landing at the site in 1944.
D-Day veteran John Dennett, 99, from Liverpool, becomes emotional during a Spirit of Normandy Trust wreath-laying ceremony near the French coast
Veteran Donald Jones reacts as he returns to Sword Beach in Normandy, France, where he landed on D-Day
D-Day veteran Henry Rice, 98, sheds a tear at the statue of Field Marshal Montgomery during the Spirit of Normandy Trust service in Coleville-Montgomery, France
An emotional day for the war heroes after locals approached the men on the beach to thank them for their services.
Mr Jones, from Mold, North Wales, was visibly moved and sat alone in his wheelchair with tears in his eyes as he recalled that fateful day.
More than 150,000 British, Canadian and American troops landed in a combined naval, air and ground assault on Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944.
Mr Jones joined the Royal Navy in 1942 when he was 17 years old and in 1943 he was sent to train at HMS Raleigh, according to the Mold & District Civil Society.
The following year, a ship he was posted to landed on Sword Beach at around 8am on D-Day – it was one of five landing points where thousands of troops arrived.
