Exactly 70 years after Allied troops launched one of history's most important battles at the beaches of Normandy, France, thousands returned to the beaches of Normandy and paid tribute together.
But it wasn't just in Normandy that people commemorated D-Day. Across America, world leaders, dignitaries and World War II veterans paused, taking a few moments "to remember why America and our allies gave so much for the survival of liberty at its moment of maximum peril," as Obama put it on Friday.
At the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France where Obama spoke, nearly 9,400 American soldiers are buried on the bluffs overlooking the English Channel.
“France will never forget what it owes these soldiers, what it owes the United States," French President François Hollande said at the event. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, also in attendance, was the only head of state there who actually lived through World War II.
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BONUS: 1 million rose petals shower the Statue of Liberty to honor D-Day