Some of the last surviving veterans gathered in France on Saturday to mark the anniversary of D-Day, 82 years since the Allied landing in Nazi-occupied France during World War II.
Veterans will attend the annual Ceremony of Remembrance at the British Normandy Memorial.
Only six have confirmed their attendance this year, marking the smallest number present at the ceremony since the memorial opened in 2021.
Commemorations began with French schoolchildren walking across Juno Beach to mark H-Hour, the time at which British servicemen were deployed.
What is D-Day?
On June 6, 1944, nearly 160,000 Allied troops, made up of soldiers from the UK, the US, Canada, France and several other countries, landed in Normandy on the coast of northern France.
This date is known as “D-Day” — a military term for the first day of an operation. The “D” simply stands for day.
The Allied forces launched Operation Overlord, which led to the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control.
On D-Day alone, 4,400 troops died from the combined Allied forces. The exact number of German casualties on the day is not known, but it is estimated that between 4,000 and 9,000 men were killed, wounded or missing.
Hegseth warns Europe faces ‘invasion’ of dangerous ideologies
In a speech at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Saturday linked immigration to the legacy of the D-Day landings.
“Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different, dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive,” Hegseth said.
“When will European capitals do something about that invasion or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not,” he added.
The Pentagon chief’s remarks echo criticisms often made by the administration of US President Donald Trump about Europe failing to control immigration.
Hegseth said that Western countries had grown “comfortable” since World War II.
“We forgot that freedom is not free. We forgot that peace is not wished into being,” he said.
His remarks also echoed Trump’s demand that US allies in NATO increase their military budgets.
“We stand by our allies, and we expect our allies capable and ready to stand alongside us,” he said.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
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