‘We lost so many in a short time’

PARACHUTISTS dropped from the sky over Normandy yesterday to remember British servicemen who made the first landings on D-Day, 65 years ago.

Some of those who dropped into fields near Ranville watched as present members of 3 Para jumped from Dakota and Hercules aircraft into fields edged with poppies.

There was sunshine and blue sky for yesterday’s memorial event, but those who took part in Operation Neptune — the code name for the initial landings on June 6 1944 — remembered jumping in the dark at about 1.50am.