75 years after the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, some of the heroes of D-Day departed from Portsmouth to make the journey once more
ADVERTISEMENT75 years after the landing by Allied Forces on the beaches of Normandy, some of the heroes of D-Day - all of them over 90-years-old today - departed from Portsmouth on the NV Boudicca to make the journey once more that they originally made in 1944 across the English Channel, this time escorted by British Royal Navy vessels and a legendary Spitfire fighter aircraft from the era of World War II.
For some of the veterans who were on board, wearing their uniforms and their medals, it will be the first time that they have returned to Normandy.
On arrival, they will take part in memorial services at military cemeteries near the beaches where the D-Day landing was made.
In the early hours of June 6th 1944, more than 150,000 soldiers of the Allied Forces landed on the Normandy beaches in German-occupied France in what was the largest seaborne invasion in history for the start of an air, sea and land attack against the Axis forces, which eventually led to the liberation of western Europe from the occupying Nazi regime.
Allied casualties on the first day of the Normandy landings were at least 10,000, with more than 4,400 confirmed dead.