NORMANDY, France — Virginia National Guard Soldiers stood in silent formation Friday morning as the sun broke over Omaha Beach, paying tribute to the heroes who stormed these sands 81 years ago.

Thirty soldiers from the 29th Infantry Division joined more than 600 U.S. service members in Normandy to commemorate the June 6, 1944, invasion that changed the course of history. The Guard members participated in a sunrise ceremony on Omaha Beach and helped place U.S. and French flags at gravesites in the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer.

The Virginia Guard's Alpha Company, 116th Infantry Regiment, suffered devastating losses on D-Day. Nineteen soldiers from Bedford, Virginia, were killed in the first wave of the assault, the highest per capita loss of any American community duri

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