Todays peace and tranquility of Utah Beach belies the Pandemonium of June 6, 1944, when more than 3,000 US Soldiers died taking the beach 60 years ago. The American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, containing the graves of more than 9,000 Soldiers, overlooks Omaha Beach

The Normandy landings on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 was the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foothold in Continental Europe. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard invasion in Europe, to defeat German troops.