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Veterans and world leaders are set to meet in France’s Normandy on Thursday to mark the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings during World War II.
Ceremonies began in Britain and France on Wednesday, remembering the pivotal moment in history on June 6, 1944, when more than 150,000 Allied soldiers arrived in France by sea and air to drive out the forces of Nazi Germany.
King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition leader Keir Starmer were among the visiting dignitaries in the southern port city and naval base of Portsmouth.
"Today we come together to honor those nearly 160,000 British, Commonwealth and Allied troops who, on June 5, 1944, assembled here and along these shores to embark on the mission which would strike that blow for freedom and be recorded as the greatest amphibious operation in history," King Charles said on Wednesday.
Charles' trip to France on Thursday will be his first foreign visit since his cancer diagnosis was made public this yearImage: Andrew Matthews/AP Photo/picture alliance200 veterans to attend
The first ships and landing craft bound for France had set off on the morning of June 5, in order to reach the northwestern French coast by the following morning.
Eight decades on, a group of veterans set off to repeat that journey in more peaceful circumstances, sailing across the Channel in time for the main commemorations in France on Thursday.
"If I could go again, I would go again. I'm glad we sacrificed so that others (could) have a good life," 99-year-old John Mines told the AFP news agency. "It wasn't me, they're all heroes."
The surviving veterans will be the most honored guests.
Some 200 of the surviving troops are expected at the ceremony, a number that is dwindling every year.
This may be the final major anniversary where the centenarian veterans are present.
Thursday marks the culmination of a three-day event in France.
President Emmanuel Macron will host US President Joe Biden, King Charles and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, representing the World War II Allied powers, to remember the heroism of the soldiers who gave their lives in the landings.
D-Day and the tremendous cost of victory
Important step towards liberation from the Nazi regime: German envoy
German ambassador to the UK, Miguel Berger, marked the anniversary of D-Day alongside King Charles and the veterans.
"D-Day was an important step towards liberation from the Nazi regime, paving the way for a democratic Germany and reconciliation. Today we stand united as close partners in NATO," he said on social media platform X on Wednesday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will also take part in the day of commemoration, slated to start at around 0830 GMT with a British ceremony in Ver-sur-Mer.
Shadow of Ukraine war
As Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on, this year's tribute will carry special resonance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also scheduled to take part in the day of remembrance.
Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, leading to Europe's biggest armed conflict since World War II, was not invited.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the 70th-anniversary events in Normandy.
Putin, with the leaders of France, Germany and Ukraine, had set up the now defunct 'Normandy format,' a contact group that was focused at resolving the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, which was back then centered around the Donbas and Crimea regions.
Ten years later, the four no longer hold high-level diplomatic meetings together.
"Ukraine needs the support from the Europeans and the Allies like France and the other European states needed it to defeat Nazism," news agency Reuters quoted a European diplomat as saying.
The diplomat stressed it was important Zelenskyy will be there.
"From all those that are present in Normandy today, only Zelenskyy and the few veterans still alive know what war really is," the diplomat added.
msh,dvv/jsi (AFP, Reuters)
