Mass parachute jump over Normandy begins D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations

CARENTAN-LES-MARAIS, France (AP) — Paratroopers jumping from World War II planes took to the now-peaceful skies over Normandy, where there was once war, Sunday, heralding a week of ceremonies for the generation of Allied troops. that is rapidly disappearing and who fought from the beaches of D-Day 80 years ago to the fall of Adolf Hitler, helping to free Europe from his tyranny.

Along the coast of Normandy—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, the grateful survivors of Normandy and other admirers say “merci”, but also goodbye.

The dwindling number of veterans in their 90s and older who return to remember fallen friends and their history-changing exploits are the latest.

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 workhorses of the war, launched three long lines of jumpers, their round parachutes opening like mushrooms in the blue sky with puffy white clouds, to the screams of the enormous crowd that heard tunes by Glenn Miller and Edith Piaf when waiting.

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.