82nd Anniversary of D-Day — 29 WWII Veterans Return to Normandy American Cemetery

Twenty-nine World War II veterans attended the 82nd anniversary ceremony of the D-Day landings at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, on June 6, 2026. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed the veterans and dignitaries. Caine told the assembled veterans: 'Thank you — thank you for your courage, tenacity and grit that you showed the world on that day, and the days that followed.' Prior to the officials' remarks, 107-year-old Navy veteran Art Rose — an engineering officer at Omaha Beach during the invasion — read aloud a letter he had written to his parents on June 11, 1944, five days after the landings, concluding with an optimistic message that he was 'well, whole and happy.' Approximately 160,000 Allied troops, including 73,000 Americans, landed at Normandy on June 6, 1944, in the largest seaborne invasion in history; an estimated 4,414 Allied troops died on D-Day itself, including 2,501 Americans. The Normandy American Cemetery, overlooking Omaha Beach, contains 9,388 US service member graves. The 82nd anniversary is expected to be among the last at which a substantial group of D-Day veterans, now well into their late nineties and beyond, will be able to attend in person.