The Paras drop into Normandy as veterans remember D-Day landings

Members of 3 Para jumped from Hercules and Dakota aircraft into fields lined with poppies at the Pegasus Memorial in Ranville to commemorate the airborne phase of the invasion.

Some of the veterans who took part in Operation Neptune – the codename for the initial landings – watched as parachutists carried out the same drop they undertook around 2am on 6 June, 1944.

A few hours later the Normandy Veterans Association – for whom the occasion marks the last visit to France as a group – attended a service and parade at Colleville-Montgomery. The Last Post then heralded a minute's silence in honour of around 4,400 Allied troops killed on D-Day.

The veterans were joined by 80 schoolchildren, Royal Marines and Sea and Air Cadets in the sunshine at Bayeux War Cemetery.

British, French and Dutch military and representatives from governments from all over the world were also among around 600 guests at the international ceremony, organised by the Royal British Legion.

The Rev Patrick Irwin said: "We must remember the courage, duty and self sacrifice of those who have been laid to rest and all their comrades killed in the Normandy campaign."

Lieutenant General Sir John Kiszely, national president of the Legion, joined French members of parliament, government ministers and ambassadors from Belgium and the Netherlands to lay wreaths at the foot of a memorial cross in the cemetery.

He said: "The 65th anniversary of D-Day is an important occasion. This service has been a tremendous international collaboration here at the Bayeux Cemetery with a great feeling of comradeship and a very emotional moment for the veterans."

In addition to those killed on D-Day, a further 200,000 died in the campaign to liberate Normandy, which saw three million troops fight the Nazis over a period of 80 days.

Gordon Brown, Barack Obama and the Prince of Wales will be among those marking today's anniversary at ceremonies in Bayeux Cathedral and the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer.

Initially no member of the British Royal Family was invited to the memorial events. Some British veterans wore badges bearing photos of the Queen during yesterday's events in protest at the French government's failure to invite the monarch.

The protest was organised by Harm Kuijper, from the Netherlands, who runs the website Normandy Veterans Association Friends.

"I thought we had to make a statement," he said.

"I brought 300 copies to Normandy and all the veterans said I had done a great job.

"They say they fight for the Queen so it's so important that she's invited. It's come right from the heart."

Ten British veterans – nine men and a woman who served as a nurse – are to be awarded the Legion d'honneur, France's highest decoration of military conduct, this weekend.

Children from four schools in Britain helped plant thousands of flags bearing messages to veterans on the beach at Asnelles yesterday afternoon.

Some simply said "thank you", others bore more personal messages or were dedicated to family members who died fighting for their country. One read: "My dad was a Royal Marine on Sword Beach. Thanks to him and so many others, his grandchildren enjoy life in freedom."

The naked and the dead, then arm saved by toss of surgeon's coin

A SCOTS veteran of the landings yesterday recalled his terror as

he arrived on the beach at Normandy 65 years ago "on a red sea of dead bodies".

Jock Dunbar, who travelled to France to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings with fellow veterans, paid tribute to his compatriots and the camaraderie they shared.

The 83-year-old said: "I was called up at 18 years old and had four months of training. But nothing could prepare you for the scene when I landed at Normandy. The sea was red and there was nothing but bodies floating in the water.

"I had never seen anything like it. We went in behind the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders from Canada who were the assault troops, and it was terrifying to wade through the dead. When you heard the piper in front of you, the adrenaline kicked in and you were off."

Mr Dunbar was later injured when a German shell landed less than 10 feet from him. The force of the blast blew his uniform clean off, leaving him naked but for his boots. The teenage infantryman, from Elgin, Aberdeenshire, stood with his right arm hanging by a single strand of flesh as his officer died at his feet.

He said: "I was wounded outside Colombelles on July 19 – the day of a thousand-bomber raid. I heard a swoosh and an 88 shell landed within ten feet of where I was standing.

"The clothes were blown off me and disintegrated – I was left bollock naked. But I was lucky to be alive. My right arm was hanging on by an inch of flesh and the bone was shattered. All I could see was the stump.

"I walked three-quarters of a mile to the first aid station, and that was the end of my war. I was taken to a chateau in the woods, being used as a field operating station, and shipped to Southampton two days later.

"Three surgeons at the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow saved my arm. One wanted to amputate, another said it could be saved and their colleague was undecided so he tossed a coin.

"I don't know if he called heads or tails but I owe that man my arm."