DALLAS– More than 60 World War II veterans left Dallas for France on Friday, where they will participate in ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The group ranges from 96 to 107 years old, according to American Airlines, which is the first to fly them to Paris. The flight is one of many flights that bring veterans to France for the commemoration.
The group will take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Suresnes American Cemetery, visit the Eiffel Tower and take part in a daily ceremony known as le Ravivage de la Flamme, which honors fallen French soldiers at the Arc de Triomphe.
They will then head to the Normandy region for events including wreath-laying ceremonies on the beaches of Omaha and Utah, two of the landing sites for Allied troops.
Nearly 160,000 Allied troops73,000 men from the United States landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944, in a large-scale amphibious operation designed to break through heavily fortified German defenses and begin the liberation of Western Europe.
On D-Day itself, a total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed, including 2,501 Americans. More than 5,000 were injured.
The group traveling from Dallas includes six Medal of Honor recipients from wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam who want to honor World War II veterans.
There are also two Rosie the Riveters, representing women who worked in factories and shipyards during the war.
Hundreds of thousands[news.com/368259471e91c906309abb21b915086f”>military women from Allied nations also worked in crucial noncombat roles such as codebreakers, ship plotters, radar operators and cartographers.
There are various ceremonies to commemorate the day in France and to thank veterans, some of whom will make the long trans-Atlantic journey despite advanced age, fatigue and physical difficulties.
“We will never forget. And we have to tell them,” Philippe Étienne, chairman of commemoration organizer Liberation Mission, told The Associated Press.