Normandy remembers D-Day soldiers

Normandy today planned to mark the 62nd anniversary of the D-Day landings that changed the course of the Second World War with a military ceremony and veterans’ talks to French schoolchildren.

The official ceremony was to take place in Asnelles-sur-Mer, part of Gold Beach, where soldiers went ashore for the June 6, 1944, Allied landings that freed France from Nazi Germany’s grip.

Veterans Minister Hamlaoui Mekachera was to preside over the event, to include a concert, a military ceremony and a non-denominational service.

Other smaller ceremonies were to be scattered throughout Normandy along the coast.

The town of Carentan was to commemorate D-Day with a reconstructed military camp using tents and vintage French and US army vehicles.