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STORY: ::British D-Day veterans recall the sacrifices made by so many in Normandy

::June 6, 2024

::Ver-sur-Mer, France

::Ken Hay, British veteran

::"They should grow not old as we who are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them."

::John Dennett, British veteran

::"When you go home, tell them of us and say 'for your tomorrow. We gave our today'."

With the numbers of veterans, many aged 100 or more, fast dwindling, this is likely to be the last major ceremony in Normandy honoring them in their presence.

Some 200 veterans, most of them American or British, are set to take part in ceremonies throughout the day on windswept beaches that still bear the scars of the fighting that erupted on D-Day, history's largest amphibious invasion, in which thousands of Allied soldiers died.

The Allies took approximately 10,250 casualties on D-Day - a number that includes killed, wounded and missing servicemen, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. About 4,440 were killed.

German casualties are unknown but are estimated at between 4,000 and 9,000.