Parachutists are jumping over Normandy again, just as soldiers did 75 years ago for D-Day but this time without being shot at.

Engines throbbing, C-47 transport planes dropped group after group of parachutists, a couple of hundred in all including a 97-year-old D-Day veteran, Tom Rice.

"It went perfect, perfect jump," Rice said after his jump.

"I feel great.

I'd go up and do it all again."

The jumpers were honoring the airborne soldiers who descended into gunfire and death ahead of the June 6, 1944, seaborne invasion.

The landing zone for Wednesday's operation was fields of wildflowers outside Carentan, one of the objectives of the thousands of paratroopers who entered occupied France from the sky dropped over Normandy in the D-Day prelude.

Rice, of San Diego, jumped into roughly the same area he landed in on D-Day.

He said it was dark when he touched down in 1944 and he can't be sure exactly where he was.


Rice jumped with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division on that momentous day 75 years ago, landing safely despite catching himself on the exit and a bullet striking his parachute.

He called the 1944 jump "the worst jump I ever had."

Approximately 200 parachutists participated in the jump over Normandy on Wednesday, replicating a jump made by U.S. soldiers on June 6, 1944 as a prelude to the seaborne invasions on D-Day.

Mr Rice during WWII.


In this June 6, 1944, file photo, U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, left, gives the order of the day to paratroopers in England prior to boarding their planes to participate in the first assault of the Normandy invasion.


In this photo taken with a drone, a dummy paratrooper representing a WWII paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne hangs on the bell tower of the church of Sainte Mere Eglise, in Normandy, France, Thursday, May 9, 2019.

Seventy-five years ago, American paratrooper John Steele dangled from a clock tower in Sainte-Mere-Eglise after his parachute got caught during the D-Day invasion, and survived.

I was watching the show today and i was moved to tears.. Looking at the faces of the war veterans when the video of the D-day exploits was projected made me sob..Emotions everywhere. Even the queen wanted to sob(she served at ww2 as a nurse + driver)Trump just kept a straight face . He was forming hard man.. I had goosebumps... SMH. You need to see the drone view of mass graves of the soldiers that died... A very large green field filled with thousands of graves *tears*
Modified-
Explorers please do u mind posting the pic of the normandy mass graves?

I can only imagine the level of Nostalgia baba will be feeling, I wonder how the world will be if we didn't fight all these 'avoidable wars" and we all got along smoothly........

Gallant


Not that amala warrior that Usain Bolt from ilorin and abandoned his own village

How will these make us a happy nation again

A Second World War veteran cries during the ceremony in Portsmouth this morning to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

British D-Day veteran Reg Charles, 96, salutes during a memorial ceremony at the Pegasus Bridge Museum in Caen toda.

A veteran of the 6th Airborne Division puts his head in his hands during a ceremony at Pegasus Bridge in France today.

Veterans who survived D-Day were guests of honour at today's commemorations in Portsmouth attended by world leaders.


The Queen, accompanied by The Prince of Wales, and the President and the First Lady, pose for a formal photograph with leaders of the other Allied Nations.

Back row L-R Slovakia DPM Richard Rai, Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Belgium Charles Michel, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Andrej Babia, Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison, Danish Ambassador to the UK Lars Thuesen.

Front row L-R Governor-General of New Zealand Patsy Reddy, President of France Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Theresa May, US President Donald Trump, President of Greece Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte.

Theresa May speaks on stage during the D-Day Commemorations her last major event as Tory leader in Britain before she quits.


Mrs May read a letter from Captain Norman Skinner (right) of the Royal Army Service Corps, to his wife Gladys on June 3, 1944, found in his pocket after he was killed on D-Day.

Mr Trump's prayer read for troops on D-Day has a large picture of wartime leader FDR behind him.

Longest Day..... The D Day invasion movie

Great story!!!! Good photos also.

Africa,especially Nigeria needs a war like this to set this shithòle straight. These useless politicians need to DIE!!!

The only good naija politician is a dead one and he/she is only good cuz he/she is dead!

luminouz:
Africa,especially Nigeria needs a war like this to set this shithòle straight. These useless politicians need to DIE!!!

The only good naija politician is a dead one and he/she is only good cuz he/she is dead!

Ehn oya lead the war nau, we'll follow

Mtcheeeeew

I bet you are one of those who'll probably be hiding under their beds when such happens

fieryy:


Ehn oya lead the war nau, we'll follow

Mtcheeeeew

I bet you are one of those who'll probably be hiding under their beds when such happens

U sound fiery but ur actually a burning flame without warmth!!!

JubrinElSudan:
Longest Day..... The D Day invasion movie

Yes.

" Le jour le plus long ". Watched that movie.

This are the real men who went to war and saw war
Not dis days u can seat � in your house and be pressing button with drone

luminouz:
Africa,especially Nigeria needs a war like this to set this shithòle straight. These useless politicians need to DIE!!!

The only good naija politician is a dead one and he/she is only good cuz he/she is dead!

Come on now !
If all bad politicians had to die, there would be a power vacuum all other the world

kunkelhanspeter:
This are the real men who went to war and saw war
Not dis days u can seat � in your house and be pressing button with drone

You can start 3rd World War..
By so doing, you will go to war and see war.

This is nice! War is horror, my grandfather fought in the Nigerian Civil War as a Biafra soldier, just him telling you what it was like is enough to increase your heart beat... Imagine actually being there yourself?
Those are the real men!

Whats is Angela Merkel doing there?
Is Germany part of Allied in WW2?

OkpaNsukkaisBae:




You can start 3rd World War..
By so doing, you will go to war and see war.

Not praying for that bro

Sometimes I ask God why didn't you make me an American, however something whispers to me that God has good thoughts for me being a Nigerian...

America wasn't great overnight, and if not America, where would the world be today??...... However I must say this

"God bless the United States of America" and "God bless the best black Nation on earth, Nigeria"

One day Nigeria will get it right, some day!!

JubrinElSudan:
Longest Day..... The D Day invasion movie

I remember that movie.

The Movie, "Saving Private Ryan" was also about this same D-day invasion.

seunny4lif:
Whats is Angela Merkel doing there?
Is Germany part of Allied in WW2?

There's peace everywhere now.