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(5 Jun 2025) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4580884 ASSOCIATED PRESS Colleville-sur-Mer, France - 2 June 2025 1. Various of US World War II veteran Wally King smearing sand on the gravestone of late Major Henry Shurlds Jr. UPSOUND (English) King: "Henry, we're here to honor you. We remember you and your sacrifice on that early Spring day when you felt the weight and anger of a group of ME109s (German fighter planes) and they got you. We will never forget your cost and your sacrifice." 2. Various of cross with Shurlds name, rank and date of death 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Wally King, American World War II veteran: ++PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOT 4++ "Well, I think it's important just to remember. You know, in the United States, the students of the age that you see here, know virtually nothing about World War II, because when most veterans from World War II came home, they didn't want to talk about the war, so they didn't pass those experiences on to their children and grandchildren. It's only been in recent years have the children acquired just a taste of what really happened in World War II." 4. Mid of crosses 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jake Larson, American World War II veteran: ++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 6 AND 7++ "They didn't get the honors that we, who lived and gone on and raised families... They had no families. So they look forward to us coming." 6. Wide of crosses 7. Veterans Jack Myers (right) and Jake Larson using wheelchairs as they make their way across lawn amidst crosses 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jack Myers, American World War II veteran: ++PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOT 9++ "Over 9,000 here... can you imagine that. Given for our freedom. We should never forget it. So that's why these days are so important to us and you too." ASSOCIATED PRESS Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, France - 2 June 2025 9. Various of Myers walking down to beach 10. Crowd applauding veterans by Omaha Beach STORYLINE: The D-Day generation, smaller in number than ever, is back on the beaches of France where so much blood was spilled 81 years ago. World War II veterans, now mostly centenarians, have returned with the same message they fought for then: Freedom is worth defending. In what they acknowledge may be one of their last hurrahs, a group of nearly two dozen veterans who served in Europe and the Pacific is commemorating the fallen and getting rock-star treatment this week in Normandy — the first patch of mainland France that Allied forces liberated with the June 6, 1944, invasion and the greatest assembly of ships and planes the world had known. On what became known as “Bloody Omaha” and other gun-swept beaches where soldiers waded ashore and were cut down, their sacrifices forged bonds among Europe, the United States and Canada that endure, outlasting geopolitical shifts and the rise and fall of political leaders who blow hot and cold about the ties between nations. In Normandy, families hand down D-Day stories like heirlooms from one generation to the next. They clamor for handshakes, selfies, kisses and autographs from WWII veterans, and reward them with cries of “Merci!” — thank you. Both the young and the very old thrive off the interactions. At the Normandy American Cemetery that overlooks Omaha, the resting place for nearly 9,400 American war dead, workers and visitors rub sand from the beach onto the white gravestones, so the engraved names stand out. Wally King, a sprightly 101-year-old, wiped off excess sand with his hand, resting the other atop the white cross, before saying a few words at the grave of Henry Shurlds Jr. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/090d2cb690984d00909ceec654251a36