Paratroopers jumping from World War II planes They launched this Sunday into the now peaceful skies of Normandywhere there once was war, heralding a week of ceremonies for the rapidly disappearing generation of Allied troops who fought from the beaches of D-Day 80 years ago to the fall of Adolf Hitler, helping to liberate Europe from his tyranny.
Along the Normandy coast —where then young soldiers from across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and other Allied nations landed amid hails of fire on five beaches on June 6, 1944—French officials, grateful Normandy survivors and other admirers say “merci,” but also goodbye.
The dwindling number of veterans over 90 and as many years or more returning to remember fallen friends and their history-changing exploits are the last.
Part of the purpose of the fireworks displays, parachute jumps, commemorations and solemn ceremonies that leaders from around the world will attend this week is to pass the baton of remembrance to current generations who now see war again in Europe, in Ukraine . US President Joe Biden, his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and British royalty are among the VIPs France expects for D-Day events.
On Sunday, three C-47 transport planes, the workhorse of the war, They launched three long lines of jumperswith its round parachutes opening like mushrooms in the blue sky with puffy white clouds, to the screams of the enormous crowd that listened to tunes by Glenn Miller and Edith Piaf as it waited.
The planes circled and dropped three more groups of jumpers. Some of the crowd’s loudest cheers came when a frightened deer jumped out of the brush as the jumpers landed and ran across the landing zone.
