D-Day: World Leaders Join Commemorations

David Cameron has said world leaders should set aside their differences on the "incredibly moving" 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

As veterans, politicians and members of the Royal Family gathered in Normandy, the Prime Minister told Sky News that amid ongoing tensions with Russia, the events of June 6, 1944, "show the importance of standing up together ... for freedom and security".

Mr Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin have both travelled to northern France to remember an event that changed the course of the Second World War.

Soldiers landing on Juno Beach in Bernieres-sur-Mer on June 6, 1944

They are joining the Queen and a host of other world leaders for a service at Sword Beach in Ouistreham, where the moment 150,000 Allied troops came ashore will be re-enacted in front of around 1,000 Normandy veterans.

Mr Cameron said: "Yes, we have our disagreements with Russia but we should never forget the Soviet Union was an ally of the forces that liberated this continent from the tyranny of Nazism and enabled generations to come to live in democracy, freedom and prosperity," he said.

"Today is all about the magnificent feat of arms that saw young men ... do incredibly brave things to liberate this continent and to give us a chance of peace and democracy. We did that together."

Normandy veteran Ken Scott, 98, remembers his fallen comrades War veterans arrive for the service at Bayeux Cathedral

Described by wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill as "undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult (operation) that has ever taken place", D-Day proved to be a pivotal moment of the Second World War.

It marked the start of an 80-day campaign to liberate Normandy, a daunting task that involved three million troops and cost some 250,000 lives.

Services marking their sacrifice are being held at beaches and war cemeteries across the region.

The Queen joined world leaders to mark the 70th anniversary Mr Obama applauds US veterans during the ceremony in Colleville-sur-Mer

In Colleville-sur-Mer, Barack Obama joined his French counterpart Francois Hollande for a service at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, where more than 9,000 soldiers are buried.

"These men waged war so that we might know peace, they sacrificed so that we may be free, they fought in hope of a day that we would no longer need to fight and we are grateful to them," the US President said.

In nearby Bayeux, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery, where 4,144 soldiers, 338 of them unidentified, are buried.

Vintage US military vehicles are driven along Gold Beach

An earlier service at the town's cathedral heard from Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, the national chaplain of the Royal British Legion, who told the congregation: "We come to remember those who, from the air, in the water and on the beaches, made the supreme sacrifice."

Further along the coast in Arromanches, the Normandy Veterans' Association has organised a day of events.

This anniversary will be the group's last as it plans to disband later this year.

Cemeteries along the French coast are a focal point for the commemorations

Commemorations began at midnight when Mr Cameron attended a memorial at Pegasus Bridge, the first strategic landmark to be captured.

At the exact time the first gliders landed, a champagne toast was raised at Cafe Gondree, the restaurant next to the bridge, which became the first house to be liberated in France.

American veterans gathered at dawn on Omaha Beach, where a statue of two soldiers was unveiled.

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