D-Day, 'Private Ryan', and the Irish soldiers who fought in 'hell on Earth'

The E Company, 16th Regiment, First  Infantry Division, participating in the first wave of assaults during D-Day in Normandy, France, June 6, 1944. Picture: Robert M Sargent via AP

Approximately 120,000 Irishmen fought alongside the Allies in the Second World War, and many of them were part of the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy 80 years ago today.

Fighting alongside American, British, and to a lesser extent Canadian forces, the landings started the liberation of western Europe from the Nazis.