(6 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Arromanches-les-Bains, Normandy, France – 06 June 2024
1. Various of British World War II veterans parading near the Gold Beach landing site
2. Various of locals and tourists watching parade
3. Wide of veterans in wheelchairs
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Allan McQuillan, WWII veteran of the Royal Air Force:
"It needs to be remembered what we did. Not just what we did, but look at those 4,000 graves.”
5. Wide of a British veteran waving
6. Wide of woman taking pictures
7. Wide of a veteran with his chaperone
8. Wide of veterans pushed in wheelchairs
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Arnold Salter, WWII veteran of the Royal Navy:
"It is wonderful to be here, yes, but I wish that it had never happened.”
10. Various of pipers marching
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Arnold Salter, WWII veteran of the Royal Navy:
"I would have chosen the navy again, to be honest. The only thing I missed really, in the navy if I was going back into the navy, was me rum.”
12. Pan to pipers playing
13. Wide of people marching with flags
STORYLINE:
British World War II veterans, many of them centenarians, paraded through the streets of the Normandy town of Arromanches-les-Bains in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of D-Day on Thursday.
At the D-day landing of June 6, 1944, on Gold Beach, below Arromanches, German machine gun and artillery defence took the lives of more than 400 British soldiers who stormed ashore.
At the D-Day invasion, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy.
Of those, 73,000 were from the United States and 83,000 from Britain and Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops.
Allan McQuillan, a 101-year-old veteran of the Royal Air Force, told the AP that "it needs to be remembered what we did. Not just what we did, but look at those 4,000 graves.”
A total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed on D-Day itself while fighting around 50,000 German forces.
Arnold Salter, a Royal Navy veteran said about Thursday’s parade: "It is wonderful to be here, yes, but I wish that it had never happened.”
Talking about the changing world, the 98-year-old said “I would have chosen the navy again, to be honest. The only thing I missed really, in the navy if I was going back into the navy, was me rum.”
World War II veterans from across Britain, the United States as well as Canada are in Normandy this week to mark the 80 year anniversary of the D-Day landings that changed the course of the war and helped liberate Europe from Adolf Hitler’s tyranny.
Few witnesses remain who remember the storied Allied assault, history’s biggest amphibious invasion in Normandy, targeting five code-named beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
AP video shot by Bela Szandelszky
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