In pictures

72 years on, vets and families remember Normandy D-Day landings

Global ceremonies commemorate the more than 10,000 Allied troops who died during the pivotal World War II operation

By AP 6 June 2016, 9:50 pm

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US reinforcements wade through the surf from a landing craft in the days following D-Day and the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France at Normandy in June 1944 during World War II. (AP Photo/Bert Brandt, File)

COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France — Proud veterans in their 90s and families of fallen soldiers commemorated Monday the epochal D-Day invasion of Normandy 72 years ago that helped the Allies defeat Hitler.

They were holding small ceremonies and moments of remembrance along the wide beaches and cliffs where thousands of US, British, Canadian and French troops landed as dawn was breaking June 6, 1944.

Henry Breton of Augusta, Maine, was among the shrinking number of survivors of the landings to come for Monday’s anniversary. Speaking from the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, 91-year-old Breton recalled the fierce German counterattack and ensuing violence and valor he experienced at the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium.

“It’s all worth it,” he said. “It brings back so many memories.”

: WWII enthusiasts from Spain wearing 101st Airbone gears walk on Omaha beach next to the Colleville American military cemetery, in Colleville sur Mer, western France, June 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

: WWII enthusiasts from Spain wearing 101st Airbone gears walk on Omaha beach next to the Colleville American military cemetery, in Colleville sur Mer, western France, June 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

: A Thank You is written in the sands of Omaha beach next to the Colleville American military cemetery, in Colleville sur Mer, western France, Sunday June 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

: Graves at the Colleville American military cemetery, in Colleville sur Mer, western France, June 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

: American E6 soldier John, from Virginia Beach, whose grand-father was a pilot in Canadian Air Force during WWII, looks at the map of the memorial in the Colleville American military cemetery, in Colleville sur Mer, western France, June 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

: Illustrative: Veterans attend a D-Day anniversary wreath-laying ceremony at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, June 6, 2016. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP)

: Veterans attend a D-Day anniversary wreath laying ceremony at the National World War II Memorial on June 6, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP)

: 96 year old D-Day veteran George Krakosky has his picture taken during a D-Day anniversary wreath laying ceremony at the National World War II Memorial on June 6, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP)

The D-Day invasion was a turning point in World War II, cracking Hitler’s western front as Soviet troops made advances in the east. At least 4,400 Allied troops were killed the first day, and many thousands more in the ensuing three-month Battle of Normandy, before the Allies could march to Paris to liberate the French capital from Nazi occupation.