D-Day 80th anniversary in Normandy

The new world for which the greatest generation sacrificed in the bloody surf of the Normandy beaches is fading into history along with the last of the old soldiers.

The 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings observed by President Joe Biden in France Thursday will likely be the last major decennial commemoration attended by significant numbers of veterans. Even a 19-year-old who stormed ashore in the biggest amphibious operation in history would soon be 100.

This year’s memorial ceremony represents far more than a poignant farewell to surviving comrades of more than 150,000 allied troops who forged a beachhead for the liberation of Europe from Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Presidents, prime ministers and monarchs from NATO nations are gathering at a paradoxical moment. They are unusually united but experiencing growing dread. The alliance has a new sense of mission in opposing another war started by a tyrant bent on territorial expansion — this time in Ukraine.

But at no point since June 6, 1944, has the unshakable US leadership of the West and support for internationalist values been so in question. Democracy is facing its sternest test in generations from far-right populism on the march on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Geopolitical empires like Russia and China are, meanwhile, resurgent and threatening to obliterate the global system dominated by Western values that has prevailed since World War II.

Read more about why this D-Day is particularly poignant for European and US leaders.

King Charles III speaking during the UK national commemorative event for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, held at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, on June 6. Jane Barlow/PA Images/Getty Images

King Charles III of Britain participated in his country's Thursday morning commemoration held at the British Normandy Memorial by delivering a speech honoring those who fought in the Battle for Normandy and the French civilians and resistance fighters who lost their lives during World War II.

More than 22,000 British service personnel gave their lives during D-Day and the ensuing Battle of Normandy.

In his address, Charles also acknowledged that the world will no longer have any remaining survivors of World War II. The veterans that are still alive are all in their 90s and 100s.

The King, whose trip to France is his first overseas since being diagnosed with cancer, also spoke in French when honoring the French civilians and resistance fighters who lost their lives fighting Nazi Germany.

Mounted gendarmes patrol Omaha Beach as the sun rises in advance of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion on June 4, in Vierville-sur-Mer, France. Win McNamee/Getty Images

American, British and Canadian events are being held this morning at their respective cemeteries in Normandy, after which a larger international event organized by the French will be held on Omaha Beach, where American troops suffered their heaviest casualties on D-Day.

Towns across Normandy also host their own events throughout the day.

With so many heads of state in town, the security measures in place are intense.

A massive contingent of 43,000 security personnel have been deployed over the week’s events, the Interior Ministry has said. For Thursday's events, 12,000 agents will be on hand.

Heavy travel restrictions put in place by French authorities will also effectively cut off the Norman coastline and the normally sleepy towns that dot it from the rest of the country.

Nearly 1 million spectators are expected, according to the French Interior Ministry. But organizers and veterans themselves also acknowledge that this year could be the last major commemoration in which living veterans are able to attend.

About 200 veterans from the Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States are expected to make the journey, many of whom are more than 100 years old.

“Everything you see in the modern world in a lot of ways can be traced to this particular day,” said Charles Djou, the secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), the independent agency responsible for managing US military cemeteries and monuments overseas.

“The fact that we’re going to have likely the very last time a large group of these veterans coming together who fought on this particular day makes it all that much more poignant, particularly in the context of global affairs right now.”

Read more about how organizers are going all out for the commemorations.

Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend the UK's national commemorative event for the 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 5, in Portsmouth, England.  Kin Cheung/Pool/Getty Images

Britain's King Charles III is making the journey across the English channel for D-Day commemorations, in what will be his first overseas trip since being diagnosed with cancer.

He’ll be joined by Queen Camilla and Prince William, according to Buckingham Palace.

On Thursday morning, the 75-year-old monarch will attend the UK Ministry of Defence and the Royal British Legion’s commemorative event at the British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer. His son William will represent the royal family at the international ceremony at Omaha Beach.

Yesterday the King and senior royals joined leading politicians and veterans at the UK's national commemorative event in Portsmouth. The city on England's south coast is where Allied troops departed from ahead of the largest seaborne invasion in history on the German-occupied French coast across the English Channel.

In a speech on Wednesday, Charles praised veterans for their "courage, resilience and solidarity."

A man holding a flag of Ukrainian 55th Artillery Brigade kneels down at a memorial area with Ukrainian and other countries flags commemorating fallen Ukrainian and foreign fighters at the Independence Square, in Kyiv, on May 27. Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images

Thurday’s commemoration will carry heavy symbolic significance with war raging in eastern Europe. The war in Ukraine is expected to loom large over Thursday’s events, as it is the first major quinquennial commemoration of D-Day since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Europe has not seen the type of ground conflict that is raging in Ukraine since the end of WWII, and this year’s anniversary comes as Russian forces advance on the battlefield – handing Kyiv a series of tactical defeats and poking holes in the already fragile Western alliance opposed to the Kremlin’s war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has attended D-Day anniversaries in the past but was snubbed in 2019, was not invited again this year due to the war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend the celebrations, given the parallels between the “historical reason of the invasion and the just battle that is being fought in Ukraine today,” the source added.

A Normandy veteran attends the UK's national commemorative event for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, hosted by the Ministry of Defence on Southsea Common in Portsmouth, Hampshire. Andrew Matthews/PA

World leaders are descending on the beaches of Normandy on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

By the end of the day on June 6, 1944, the allies had established a beachhead in France – a major turning point in the Western theater of World War II and, according to some historians, the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. Victory in Europe would come less than a year later.

US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are among more than 20 heads of state and government expected to attend the bevy of events being held across Normandy to honor the nearly 160,000 Allied troops who carried out the largest seaborne invasion in the history of mankind – around 10,000 of whom were killed, injured or went missing in action.