This year, crowds of French and international visitors — including veterans in their 90s — are back in Normandy to pay tribute to the nearly 160,000 troops from Britain, the U.S., Canada and elsewhere who landed there to bring freedom.
Several thousand people were expected Monday at a ceremony later at the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach in the French town of Colleville-sur-Mer. Amid the dozens of U.S. veterans expected to attend was Ray Wallace, 97, a former paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division.
“We all got a little scared then. And then whenever the guy dropped us out, we were away from where the rest of the group was. That was scary,” Wallace told The Associated Press. He was asked about the secret to his longevity. “Calvados!” he joked, in reference to Normandy’s local alcohol. Many history buffs, wearing military and civilian clothes from the period, also came to stage a reenactment of the events.
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