Normandy In Photos: Marking The 73rd Anniversary Of D-Day

The American cemetery at Normandy. (MaxPixel.net/Released)

June 06, 2017 Melissa Leon

On June 6, 1944, the Allies invaded German-occupied Western Europe by way of Normandy, France, during World War II. From D-Day through August 21, the Allies sent more than two million soldiers into Northern France and suffered more than 226,386 casualties. The Allied countries included the United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, Australia and China.

There are countless monuments across Normandy’s beaches and inland to honor those who lost their lives. There is also the Normandy American Cemetery.

Rows of white crosses in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial mark the graves of the thousands of U.S. service members who gave their lives during the D-Day invasion of June 1944. (Photo by Spc. Adrienne Killingsworth)

A U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division monument stands at Omaha Beach today, at the top of the green hills overlooking the beach:

(Melissa Leon)

A look in the opposite direction:

1st Infantry Division Monument, Normandy, France (Melissa Leon)

There is a 5th Engineer Special Brigade monument at Omaha Beach:

5th Engineer Special Brigade Monument, Normandy, France (Melissa Leon)

The monument reads, “For exceptional services of war rendered in the course of the operation of liberation of France.” It also lists the “valiant Americans of the 5th Engineer Special Brigade who gave their lives in the assault on this beach on 6 June 1944.”