What young Americans REALLY know about D-Day: DailyMail.com hit the streets to find out on the 80th anniversary of one of the U.S’s finest military moments

Eighty years ago, to this day, one of the most consequential military operations in world history took place on the beaches of Normandy, in the northwest of Normandy. France.

The D-Day landings, when Allied forces stormed Nazi-occupied France and changed the course of the war WWIIgoods commemorated today by chairman Joe Biden and other world leaders who delivered a moving message: “We will never forget.”

But it seems many young Americans have forgotten about the landings or never heard of them at all.

“Do you mean like Judgment Day?” an NYU student responded when DailyMail.com asked if they knew what D-Day refers to.

She was just one of many who had no idea about today’s commemoration, or confused D-Day with other World War II events, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“I believe bombs were involved, but I don’t know anything else,” said one young woman

Some people were able to correctly identify that D-Day refers to the Allied landings in Normandy

A reporter asked young and old in Washington Square Park, near the NYU campus, what they knew about the event — and whether it should still be commemorated today.

D-Day took place on June 6, 1944 when 160,000 Allied troops crossed the border. English channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, beginning a major attack that would ultimately liberate France from Nazi occupation and secure victory in Europe.

About 73,000 troops came from the United States and 83,000 were from Great Britain and Canada. Many thousands of others from a dozen more Allied countries also played a crucial role in the landings, codenamed Operation Neptune.

“I believe bombs were involved, but I don’t know anything else,” said one young woman.

“I believe this is the day we won World War II,” said another.

There was also some confusion among New York’s finest. “Wasn’t that Pearl Harbor?” said an NYPD officer when asked if he knew what D-Day was, before a drawn-out “ohh, yeah!” when he was told it was in fact the Normandy landings.

Some were able to recall more facts about the events after being told they were related to the Normandy landings.

Those we knew what D-Day referred to also said it was important to educate people about important moments in history. Many cited the adage that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.

A 2004 Gallup poll found that 40 percent of Americans could not identify what D-Day referred to. Young adults were the least interested in hearing about it.

US soldiers Sergeant RA Forbis, Private John Krisa and Corporal VE Holtz of the Army Corps of Engineers read letters on an unknown beach captured on D-Day

Allied ships, boats and barrage balloons at Omaha Beach after the successful D-Day invasion. The bloody landing cost the lives of as many as 5,000 Allied soldiers

American soldiers form the 4th Infantry Division firing a 105mm HM3 Howitzer in the days after the D-Day landings in Carentan, a French town close to both the Utah and Omaha beaches

A separate survey conducted in Britain this year found that less than half of young adults know what D-Day is, while one in five believe it should no longer be commemorated.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission survey of 2,000 adults found that less than half (48 percent) of people aged 18 to 34 could recognize D-Day as the day Allied forces crossed the English Channel to embark on a to launch an offensive on the British border. Nazi occupation in Normandy.

A total of 59 percent of respondents were able to identify it correctly.

A small proportion thought it was the evacuation from Dunkirk (9 percent) and 8 percent thought it was Victory Day in the Battle of Britain. One in ten thought it was Hitler’s day Germany surrendered.

Biden led the commemorative events in Normandy on Thursday next King Charles III, French President Emmanuel Macron and the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron walk on stage during ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day

World War II veterans at the American Cemetery in Normandy – 11 were awarded the French Legion of Honor

The US president used his speech to warn that democracy around the world was in danger and also referred to the ongoing war in Ukraine following the Russian invasion.

The commemorations also provided a hugely symbolic backdrop to conversations about how Kiev can regain ground after the Russian advance, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attending an international ceremony with all the leaders.

Biden said D-Day showed the need for international alliances and vowed never to abandon Ukraine in its fight against Russia, in a sharp swipe at his election rival ex-President Donald Trump, who publicly emphasized the importance of organizations like NATO has raised doubts.

“We live in a time when democracy worldwide is in more danger than at any time since the end of World War II,” Biden said.

“Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago and it is not the answer today,” he said.

“True alliances make us stronger – a lesson I pray we Americans will never forget.”