WWII D-Day veterans honored in DC on 78th anniversary of invasion of Normandy

Marking D-Day invasion at the World War II Memorial

World War II veterans who invaded Normandy in France on June 6, 1944, were honored at the WWII Memorial on the National Mall in D.C. on Monday to remember the 78th anniversary of the event.

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - World War II veterans who invaded Normandy in France on June 6, 1944, were honored at the WWII Memorial on the National Mall in D.C. on Monday to remember the 78th anniversary of the event.

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D-Day commemoration ceremonies at the World War II Memorial

D-Day commemoration ceremonies Monday honoring World War II veterans at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Friends of the National World War II Memorial, a group dedicated to teaching the importance of the memorial and what it represents, held a ceremony on Monday to honor those who fought in the largest air, land and sea invasion in military history.

150,000 Allied troops, made up of American, British and Canadian forces, landed on the beaches of Nazi-occupied France 78 years ago to push inland to Western Europe. The invasion of Normandy began to "turn the tide" against Nazi Germany.

It's estimated only about 3,000 of those troops remain.

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For the past two years, D-Day ceremonies were reduced to a minimum amid COVID-19 lockdown restrictions around the world. This year, crowds of visitors are back in Normandy to pay tribute.

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Several thousand people are also expected at a ceremony Monday at the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach in the French town of Colleville-sur-Mer.