Paris, Jun. 6, (dpa/GNA) – French President Emmanuel Macron thanked the soldiers deployed in the Allied landing in Normandy 80 years ago, at events commemorating the start of the 1944 campaign to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany.

“They left everything behind and took all risks for our independence, for our freedom. We will not forget that,” Macron said at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-mer, in the presence of US President Joe Biden and around 170 veterans.

“The free world needed every one of you and you came,” Macron said. “You fought this war by our side, and we won it.”

Macron honoured 11 elderly US veterans as Knights of the Legion of Honour. Where possible, the men seated in wheelchairs stood up to receive the high honour. “You came here, so you are forever at home on French soil, and we do not forget,” Macron said.

Biden also shook the veterans’ hands.

Earlier, at a ceremony at the British military cemetery in Ver-sur-Mer, Macron had also presented the high honour to British veteran Christian Lamb, who was instrumental in planning the landing operation on the northern French coast during World War II.

“You have set us an example that we will not forget,” Macron said, adding that France would never forget the British troops that landed on D-Day or their brothers in arms. “This belief in freedom, which they never lost, this constant selflessness and sacrifice guide us and are our duty.”

Allied troops landed on the coast of northern France on June 6, 1944, marking the prelude to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi rule. Around 3,100 landing vessels carrying more than 150,000 soldiers headed to northern France. GNA