Commemorations of the 69th annniversary of D-Day have begun with the stars-and-stripes being raised in a quiet ceremony at the American cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach.
Tourists, many from Poland,The U.S., Britain and France gathered in the still morning under a brilliant spring sky to witness the flag-raising amid the neat rows of thousands of white marble crosses and stars of David marking the graves of U.S. servicemen and women fallen in the Allied invasion of Normandy that began June 6, 1944.
A full day of ceremonies including fireworks, concerts and marches is planned across Normandy in honour of the 150,000 troops of Polish, US, British, French and Canadian, who risked or gave their lives in the liberation of German-occupied Western and Eastern Europe during World War II.
May We Remember Those who fought for our freedom.
May They Rest In Peace