D-Day: World Leaders Join Commemorations

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

D-Day commemorations are under way across northern France, with veterans and world leaders marking the 70th anniversary of an event that changed the course of the Second World War.

The Queen will join David Cameron, Barack Obama, Francois Hollande, Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel for a service at Sword Beach in Ouistreham later.

A re-enactment of the moment 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beach - one of five places where soldiers came ashore on June 6, 1944 - is likely to be one of the highlights of the day.

Soldiers landing on Juno Beach in Bernieres-sur-Mer on June 6, 1944

Described by wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill as "undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place", D-Day proved to be a pivotal moment of the Second World War.

It marked the start of an 80-day campaign to liberate Normandy, an operation that involved three million troops and cost some 250,000 lives.

Services are being held at beaches and war cemeteries across the region, including in Arromanches, where the Normandy Veterans' Association has organised a day of events.

This anniversary will be the group's last as it plans to disband later this year.

War veterans arrive for the service at Bayeux Cathedral

A remembrance service at Bayeux Cathedral heard from Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, the national chaplain of the Royal British Legion, who told the congregation: "We come to remember those who from the air, in the water and on the beaches made the supreme sacrifice."

Among those at the event was 91-year-old veteran Tony Snelling, who was pushed into the cathedral in his wheelchair by his grandson, William Holmes.

In nearby Colleville-sur-Mer, Mr Obama is attending a service for US servicemen at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.

The Queen will join world leaders to mark the 70th anniversary

The Queen is expected to visit the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery in Bayeux later.

Commemorations began at midnight when Mr Cameron attended a memorial at Pegasus Bridge, the first strategic landmark to be captured.

Some 70 years after the exact moment the first gliders landed, a champagne toast was raised at Café Gondree, the restaurant next to the bridge, which became the first house to be liberated in France.

D-Day veteran Jock Hutton is met by Prince Charles after his parachute jump

American veterans gathered at dawn on Omaha Beach, where a statue of two soldiers was unveiled.

On Thursday, a commemorative parachute jump honoured the soldiers who dropped into France in the early hours of June 6 as part of the crucial airborne invasion.

D-Day veteran Jock Hutton, aged 89, jumped with The Red Devils, the Paratroop Regiment's free-fall display team.

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