Heroic D-Day veterans gathered on Normandy’s Omaha Beach to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the historic battle against the Nazis.
Dozens of former US military soldiers visited the scene in France on Tuesday, many of whom were centenarians and likely returning to France for the last time.
Veterans grew emotional as they remembered fallen friends and paid tribute to the tens of thousands who lost their lives on the beaches in 1944.
‘These people looked death in the face and just kept right on coming,’ Walter Stitt, a 99-year-old former tank commander who fought that day, told the Associated Press.
Summing up the solemn mood on the beach, Stitt said they were there to pay respects to ‘all those young men that never had a chance to go home and find a love of their life and hold their children in their arms.’
Tuesday’s event saw the veterans make a pilgrimage to the five Allied landing beaches, where British, American and Canadian troops stormed the coastline.
Over 4,400 Allied soldiers lost their lives as they forced back German troops. Standing on the beach 80 years later, Stitt declared there ‘are things worth fighting for.’
‘Although I wish there was another way to do it than to try to kill each other. But sometimes you’re called upon to do something and you just do it. You know? That’s it. These people looked death in the face and just kept right on coming.’
Images from the event showed children playing around a memorial for the dead, as Lliliburn ‘Bill’ Wall, who will celebrate his 101st birthday this week, said: ‘They probably wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t been successful.’
The commemoration falls just days before world leaders will gather in France to pay homage to the D-Day heroes, at a time when heightened tensions worldwide make remembering the sacrifice of past generations all the more important.
Bob Gibson, 100, said he only made it because ‘the old boy upstairs took care of me’, as he recalled the thousands who fought alongside him.
‘You don’t want other people to go through the same thing,’ he said. ‘Because I’ve seen a lot of these boys that never even made the beach, believe me. And we were all 18, 19 years old.’
Of the 4,400-plus Allied troops killed on D-Day, more than 2,500 were American forces.
The coastline invasion led the Allies to gradually push the Nazis back through France, which ultimately resulted in the death of Adolf Hitler less than a year later.
When they launched at the French coastline 80 years ago, Allied forces sent over 132,000 men on thousands of ships, in what was the largest seaborne invasion in history.
Robet Pedigo, 100, who served as a nose gunner aboard a B-24 bomber that flew over the ships as they ferried troops to Normandy, recalled: ‘It looked like you could walk across the Channel using boats as steppingstones.’
He said that he remembered flying back to base after D-Day to find out thousands had died beneath him, and said to this day, ‘the emotional impact was the greatest.’
The gathering of US veterans was organized in part by Delta Airlines and the Best Defense Foundation, which flew 60 surviving D-Day veterans to Normandy for the historic anniversary.
It is our privilege to celebrate and honor these heroes by flying them directly to Normandy and recognizing their incredible sacrifices and contributions to the world,’ the airline’s CEO Ed Bastian said of the event.
Pedigo was among those who made the trip, told his local Indiana outlet 953MNC that he felt it was ‘a once in a lifetime journey for me.’
‘The last time I saw France was from the air, 80 years ago. I will finally be able to pay my respects to the 9,000 troops who never came home,’ said the veteran, who flew 30 missions over France and Germany during World War Two.
‘That day is seared in my memory. We owe them everything and are a free country today because of their sacrifices. I’m honored to be a part of this historic event.’