COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France Veterans gathered Friday in Normandy to mark the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings a pivotal moment of World War II that eventually led to the collapse of Adolf Hitler's regime.

Along the coastline and near the D-Day landing beaches, tens of thousands of onlookers attended the commemorations, which included parachute jumps, flyovers, remembrance ceremonies, parades, and historical reenactments.

Many were there to cheer the ever-dwindling number of surviving veterans in their late 90s and older. All remembered the thousands who died.

Harold Terens, a 101-year-old U.S. veteran who last year married his 96-year-old sweetheart near the D-Day beaches, was back in Normandy.

Freedom is everything, he said. I pray for freedom for the whole world. For the war to

See Full Page