OMAHA BEACH, France--In the pages of modern history, there are few days as significant as June 6, 1944. On that day, tens of thousands of American, British, and Canadian forces invaded the Normandy region of Northern France, a mission that finally freed France from the grip of the Nazis, and hastened the slow, but firm defeat of the German army.
Of course, the invasion, known as D-Day, didn't come without a price. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers from all sides were killed in one of the most violent days of World War II, and the blood spilled that day is still remembered--with cemeteries for each nation's dead, including Germany's, spread around Normandy.
And the battle for Normandy didn't last just a day. Throughout June, 1944, battles raged in the area as the Allies fought fiercely to evict the occupiers and free the French.
But it all began on a group of beaches that will forever be known by their code names: Omaha, Utah, Juno, Sword, and Gold. The Americans fought for Omaha and Utah; the British for Gold and Juno, and the Canadians for Sword.
It has now been 67 years since D-Day, but in Normandy, remembrances of the battles fought that day and in the weeks that followed are everywhere. From small museums in many towns to memorials spread far and wide to hotels filled with pictures of American soldiers posing with local girls.
This is a landing craft, known as a Weasel--or "Barge with a Charge"--that is said to have been one of the very first types of vehicles that was driven onto Omaha Beach on D-Day. This model of a Weasel is housed at the Omaha Beach Memorial Museum.
Discuss: D-Day and the battle for Normandy (photos)
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