World War II veteran Jake Larson, a 100-year-old American best known on social media under the name "Papa Jake," enjoyed giving hugs to the many fans he met during his trip to Normandy for D-Day commemorations.
It was tough : World War II veterans return to Utah Beach to mark D-Day s 79th anniversary – Chico Enterprise-Record chicoer.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicoer.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
D-Day veterans are nearing age 100 now, but they remember the Allied onslaught at Normandy as if it were yesterday. Veterans gathered in France, the U.S. and elsewhere to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the Allied onslaught that turned the tide against the Nazis.
Dozens of World War II veterans have traveled to Normandy to mark the 79th anniversary of D-Day, the decisive but deadly assault that led to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi control. Using wheelchairs, they formed a parade along the streets of the small town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France, on Sunday. Cheerful crowds greeted them with applause and cries of “Merci” and “Thank you.” The veterans, most of them American and British, y then headed to Utah Beach. One 99-year-old remembered “it was tough" as more than 150,000 Allied troops landed there on June 6, 1944. On that single day, 4,414 Allied soldiers lost their lives, 2,501 of them Americans.