French President Emmanuel Macron has awarded 11 US veterans with the Legion of Honour, France’s highest distinction, during commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
“You came here because the free world needed each and every one of you, and you answered the call,” he told them.
“You came here to make France a free nation. You’re back here today at home, if I may say.”
The men are now aged 98 to 104.
Mr Macron kissed each veteran on both cheeks and greeted them warmly as he pinned medals on their lapels.
Among the men was Hilbert Margol, who joined an artillery battalion that operated in eastern France. He was part of US forces that went on to liberate the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.
Another, Ray Tweedel, landed by sea in Normandy on the night of June 8 1944, and took part in the war as an oil tanker and ambulance driver.
US President Joe Biden marked the anniversary by saying “we will not walk away” from the defence of Ukraine and allow Russia to threaten more of Europe.
“To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators, is simply unthinkable,” he said during a ceremony at the American cemetery in Normandy.
“If we were to do that, it means we’d be forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches.”
D-Day was the largest amphibious assault in history, and Mr Biden called it a “powerful illustration of how alliances, real alliances, make us stronger”.
He said that was “a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget”.
