As young soldiers, they waded ashore in Normandy through gunfire to battle the Nazis. On Thursday, a dwindling number of World War II veterans in a parade of wheelchairs joined a new generation of leaders to honour the dead, the living and the fight for democracy in moving commemorations on and around those same beaches where they landed exactly 80 years ago on D-Day. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded.
US leader Joe Biden, King Charles III of the UK and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, representing the Allied powers, paid tribute to the immense sacrifices made by the tens of thousands of troops on the sandy beaches and cliffs of Normandy, often far from their homes, under intense German counter-fire.
