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World leaders pay tribute to veterans at D-day ceremony in Normandy
![World leaders pay tribute to veterans at D-day ceremony in Normandy]()
The only words we can say to veterans are "thank you", Theresa May has told a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Normandy invasion. World leaders pay tribute to veterans at D-day ceremony in Normandy ![World leaders pay tribute to veterans at D-day ceremony in Normandy]()
Donald Trump later told US veterans they were "the pride of the nation". World leaders pay tribute to veterans at D-day ceremony in Normandy ![World leaders pay tribute to veterans at D-day ceremony in Normandy]()
Rangers from the U.S. 75th Ranger Regiment, in period dress, hold the American flag after scaling the cliffs of Pointe-du-Hoc in Cricqueville-en-Bessin, Normandy, France, Wednesday, June 5, 2019. AP Photo/Thibault Camus World leaders pay tribute to veterans at D-day ceremony in Normandy
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump continued their commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied northern France by Allied forces. The president joined French Presidnet Emmanuel Macron in honoring the fallen on the very site of the invasion -- the beaches of Normandy.
Her words were echoed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who told D-Day veterans gathered in northern France that we owe them "our freedom".
The day of commemorative events began with a lone piper marking the moment the first UK soldiers went ashore.
Donald Trump later told US veterans they were "the pride of the nation".
The US president was at a service at the US war cemetery at Omaha Beach.
Hundreds of veterans are gathered in Normandy for the anniversary of the largest combined land, air and naval operation in history.
The day's commemorations mark key events in the operation, which was aimed at bringing an end to World War Two.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has appealed directly to Donald Trump to fulfil the “promise of Normandy” by embracing pillars of the postwar peace such as the European Union and Nato as the two leaders marked the D-day landings 75 years ago.
In a speech that trod a fine diplomatic line, Macron offered both sincere expressions of gratitude for the valour of US troops in the second world war and vehement calls for the White House to re-engage with the principles of multilateralism.
Speaking in front of 15,000 people gathered at the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, the resting place for 9,387 US troops killed in the Normandy campaign, Macron repeatedly name-checked Trump, even at times turning to face the US president who was sitting behind him.
Royal Marine Robert Williams, 94, from Chelmsford, gave Theresa May a kiss on the cheek after meeting her in the marquee at Bayeux Cemetery, PA reports.
Williams was an 18-year-old commando in a landing craft that reached Sword Beach on D-day.
“We landed ashore and then moved through the land,” he said.
“I went all the the way through to Germany and I didn’t get a scratch. The Lord was watching over me.”
When asked about his meeting withs May, he said: “She came over and said ‘pleased to meet you’.
“She said ‘thank you for what you have done’. I kissed her - why not? It is not everyone that can do that. “I took her by the arms and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She said ‘ooh, thank you’.”
