Editor’s Note: As the 80th anniversary of D-Day nears, the global fight for democracy continues. CNN Anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper speaks with World War II veterans and military generals about the worldwide erosion of democratic institutions. “D-Day: Why We Still Fight for Democracy” premieres Sunday, June 2 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CNN.
Caen, France
CNN
—
At 99 years old, Jack Foy is considered the youngster among his group of friends that fought in World War II.
But their advanced age isn’t going to stop them from making the transatlantic journey to honor their fallen comrades on the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
On June 6, Foy – a survivor of the Battle of the Bulge – and his fellow American veterans will join dignitaries and heads of state from around the world to commemorate the approximately 160,000 Allied troops who, eight decades ago, carried out the largest seaborne invasion in human history.
Foy told CNN that he has been to several memorials in France since 2014. The emotional resonance of each trip grows stronger year after year, he said, because these veterans know each trip could be their last.
“We realize we’re getting to the end of our time,” Foy said.
They are not alone.
With major commemorations held every five years, organizers and government officials concede that this year’s event could be the last to involve living veterans, whose stories of the horrors of war have become particularly poignant given that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought a large-scale ground war back to Europe for the first time since 1945.
“We are perfectly aware that for these centenarians, this is maybe the last chance to return to the beaches where they landed, where they fought and where their brothers-in-arms fell,” said Gen. Michel Delion, the CEO of the French government agency in charge of the French commemoration efforts, Mission Liberation.
The various countries putting together the event are now planning what is expected to be the most extensive D-Day commemoration in history – both in terms of size and, crucially for elderly veterans, logistics.
Approximately 150 American veterans are expected to travel to Normandy – about two dozen of whom actually fought on D-Day – said Charles Djou, the secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), the independent agency responsible for managing US military cemeteries and monuments overseas. The youngest is 96.
Fifteen Canadian veterans, including three or four that fought on D-Day, are traveling with the Canadian delegation, according to John Desrosiers, the director of international operations for Veterans Affairs Canada. Desrosiers said the youngest traveling with the group is 98 and the eldest are 104.
The British defense ministry said it expects more than 40 WWII veterans at the various events in Normandy.
Those vets will be joined by about 25 heads of state and government, including US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Russian President Vladimir Putin was not extended an invitation due to the war in Ukraine, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is planning on attending, according to a French presidential source.
With so many heads of state in town, the security measures in place are intense. A massive contingent of 12,000 security personnel will be deployed on June 6, the French Interior Ministry said.
Heavy travel restrictions put in place by French authorities will also effectively cut off the Norman coastline and the normally sleepy towns that dot it from the rest of the country.
Yet June 6 typically sees these elderly men criss-cross the region to hit a full day’s itinerary, including national ceremonies held at the American, British and Canadian cemeteries; the big international commemoration put on by France; and then, if they have the energy, more local events.
Most veterans also travel with an entire phalanx of medical personnel. The charity that organized Foy’s trip, the US-based Best Defense Foundation, is bringing three doctors and 10 nurses to accompany the 50 veterans they are flying over from the United States. Each veteran will travel with a personal caregiver – typically a family member or a friend.
Officials say they are going to incredible lengths to treat veterans like royalty – as they are feted by actual royals. King Charles III will be there on June 6 – his first overseas trip since being diagnosed with cancer – alongside Queen Camilla and Prince William, Buckingham Palace said. Representatives from the royal families of Belgium, Monaco, the Netherlands and Norway are also expected to attend.
Delion’s team has been holding rehearsals and timing wheelchair runs for the French-led international ceremony. They are also considering having veterans enter at the same time as heads of states and other dignitaries to reduce their waiting time.
American and Canadian organizers told CNN that they will seat veterans last at their respective national ceremonies to keep them comfortable. The general public at the American event, for example, may need to be seated about an hour in advance due to security precautions.
“We take care of the veterans who served and made the enormous sacrifices that they did in the Second World War,” said Djou.
After being postponed 24 hours due to bad weather, D-Day began shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944, when paratroopers dropped into German-occupied France to lay the groundwork for the incoming invasion. Allied planes and warships began their bombardment at about 6:30 a.m., with troops hitting the beaches shortly after. They landed on a stretch of coastline 50 miles long organized into five beaches codenamed Gold, Juno, Omaha, Sword and Utah. The Americans were responsible for Omaha and Utah. The British led the assault on Gold and Sword, while the Canadians handled Juno.
Though 4,414 Allied troops died that day and it would take more than a month to achieve one of D-Day’s main objectives – liberating the strategically important city of Caen – the landings were considered a success. Allied troops had successfully made it onshore in France; it was the beginning of the end for Hitler and Nazi Germany.
The sheer drama of the event has, for decades, captured the American public imagination, because of both the magnitude of the invasion and the fact that it was a “digestible” turning point in the war, according to Ben Brands, a military historian at the ABMC.
“World War II, especially in Europe, becomes this ongoing battle from basically the moment troops land on the beaches of D-Day until Germany ultimately surrenders. The human mind needs to cut that up into digestible stories, and D-Day is a really powerful, discrete event that is so critical for everything that comes after,” Brands said. “There’s just so many powerful stories that come out of D-Day.”
As time has passed, veterans have played a crucial role in passing down the stories of D-Day. Their gripping, visceral first-hand accounts are better teachers of history than any textbook.
But just a fraction of the soldiers who lived through D-Day are still alive.
Of the 16.4 million Americans who served in the military during WWII, fewer than 100,000 are expected to still be alive by the end of the year, according to statistics from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. In Canada, there were just 9,297 living Canadian veterans who had served in either WWII or the Korean War as of March 31, 2023, according to the most recent statistics available from Veterans Affairs Canada. The British defense ministry said it does not keep veteran numbers on hand.
It’s unclear what the average age of a WWII veteran is. Given that the median age for an American WWII veteran in June 2020 was 93, according to US Census figures at the time, most surviving vets from Allied forces are likely to now be at least in their late-nineties. By the 85th anniversary in 2029, those who are still living will almost certainly be in triple digits.
“People are realizing this generation is passing and they’re passing rapidly now, and it’s important to keep their stories alive, to keep the memories of those who died and are buried at Normandy, but also those who fought and survived because they can no longer be with us for that much longer to tell these stories,” Brands said.
“The 80th will be a very powerful event.”
