D-Day ceremonies and staged landing

The BBC has an article about the seventieth anniversary:

Hundreds of the last surviving veterans of D-Day have gathered on both sides of the English Channel, seventy years on from the momentous World War Two mission. A spectacular Red Arrows display in Southsea (photo, bottom) and a parachute drop in France (photo, top) came on the eve of the anniversary. The Princess Royal was at the drumhead ceremony in Portsmouth, England, where, on 5 June 1944, troops were preparing to invade Nazi-occupied France. Between 2,500 and 4,000 Allied troops are thought to have died the next day.
As many as nine thousand Germans are also estimated to have lost their lives when around 156,000 troops, mainly from Britain, the US, and Canada landed on Normandy's beaches in one of World War Two's key turning points.
On the anniversary of the eve of the landings, the Prince of Wales laid a wreath near the Pegasus Bridge, a strategic crossing which British troops captured within minutes of landing in gliders on the French coast just after midnight during the push. In a note written on the wreath he said: "In ever-grateful remembrance of your service and sacrifice, Charles."
The Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall had lunch with veterans and watched as more than three hundred troops parachuted into Ranville, the first village to be liberated. Among them was 89-year-old Jock Hutton, who repeated the jump he made into France seventy years ago. The Scottish 89-year-old veteran jumped in tandem from around five thousand feet.
The Queen, who has arrived in Paris with the Duke of Edinburgh for a three-day state visit, will join other world leaders in Normandy to mark the day the mission began.
Leaving flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with President Francois Hollande, the two heads of state paused and bowed their heads beneath the Arc De Triomphe.
Over six hundred UK veterans, most in their eighties or nineties and many making the journey for the last time, are expected at the Sword beach ceremony. Hundreds of British veterans are already in Normandy for the commemorations. The towns may have French names, but the five Allied landing beaches are still known as Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold, and Sword.
On the anniversary itself, the Queen will head an international service of commemoration attended by royals, presidents, and prime ministers. Hundreds of veterans are here, but their numbers are dwindling. The youngest are well into their eighties. This will be the last significant anniversary most will witness. Their stories of heroism and sacrifice, success and disaster will soon fade from living memory. An emotional 88-year-old Sapper Harry Billinge said: "It was a killing field. I hope they will not forget the poor devils that died here."
Royal Navy veteran Charlie Stretch said D-Day was his last day as a teenager. "I was twenty the next day, and I didn't think I'd see twenty," he said. "In the Navy, you didn't get your tot of rum until you were twenty, so I thought I'd go without having tasted rum."
The Royal Marines and Royal Navy staged an amphibious invasion in Southsea (photo, middle). Later, on the south coast, the Red Arrows performed a spectacular display.
Veteran Raymond W. Sylvester, 95, watched as paratroop veterans dropped into Picauville.
Fellow veteran Les Reeves said the commemorations were in honor of "the lads that never saw the White Cliffs of Dover" after crossing the Channel for the invasion.
Dougle Morton, who was 23 on D-Day and landed on Sword Beach, said he was among a group of soldiers locked in a "prison camp" in Hastings before the invasion as Allied commanders tried to keep their plans secret. He said he remembered playing cards during the crossing and, asked what he felt about being part of such a massive operation, he said: "We had a job to do and we did it."
American veterans were joined by serving soldiers in Sainte-Mère-Église on the Normandy coast. Allied troops crossed the English Channel in the initial D-Day assault on 6 June 1944, paving the way for the defeat of Nazi Germany. The attack was planned from Southwick House, just north of Portsmouth, which was the main departure point for troops heading to Sword Beach. The city marked that history with a ceremony earlier.
In a message in the order of service, Princess Anne wrote that this year was "particularly poignant, because it will be one of the last milestones on which there will be sizable numbers of veterans who were there on the day".
Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Shortly after D-Day, my own grandfather was wounded and came home. We will never forget what they did and the debt that we owe them for the peace and the freedom that we enjoy on this continent."
On the other side of the Channel, parachutists landed on Sword Beach as part of the commemorations. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra will pay tribute to the veterans.
A flotilla, led by HMS Bulwark (photo), is sailing from Portsmouth to Normandy with four vessels from other countries. Heads of state from seventeen nations are to attend the international ceremony at Sword Beach, the easternmost of the five landing sites.  

 

The taking of Pegasus Bridge near to the French city of Caen by British paratroopers and glider-borne troops was a major triumph for the Allies in the early stages of D-Day.
The Prince of Wales laid a wreath at the glider pilot memorial and attended a lunch with veterans, who will also attend the main international event.
But the Normandy Veterans' Association says its numbers have fallen to around six hundred from about fifteen thousand, and has announced it will disband in November of 2014.

Rico says it's a long, slow attrition, and someday there'll be the Last Veteran, as there was for all previous wars...