70 years later: 19 world leaders meet to honor the Normandy invasion

70 years ago today, soldiers from the American, British, Canadian, and Free French armies participated in the largest seaborne invasion in history. In this valiant and herculean effort, over 156,000 allied soldiers completed a three-year encirclement of Nazi Germany, hammering the final nail into that regime's coffin at the cost of nearly 4,500 allied dead.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Over the years, the June 6, 1944 Normandy landings have etched themselves into the collective consciousness of the Western world, especially in America.

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Movies and video games like "Saving Private Ryan", "The Longest Day", "The Big Red One", "Medal of Honor" and "Call of Duty" have continued to memorialize that terrible day in the popular culture of multiple generations, ensuring that the bravery and sacrifices made on those cold, unforgiving beaches can never be forgotten.

The deafening cacophony of explosions and death are gone, replaced by white sands and a gently rolling tide. Memorials, including the famous American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, bask in the sun where only blood and death could be found all those years ago.

The few veterans who remain from that distant battlefield stood with President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande at that cemetery located on the bluffs overlooking Omaha beach-the bloodiest of the five beaches where nearly 2,500 American soldiers from V corps were killed in the landing- Friday, paying tribute to the men who fought on that beach.

The two dignitaries were there to mark an international friendship that has lasted more than 70 years, and the sacrifice that marked a turning point in the war in Europe.

"France will never forget what it owes these soldiers, what it owes the United States," said Hollande. "Vive [America]! Vive la France! And long live the memory of those who fell here for our liberty."

Obama also talked about the symbol that Normandy became.

"America's claim-our commitment to liberty, to equality, to freedom, to the inherent dignity of every human being-that claim is written in blood on these beaches, and it will endure for eternity."

"Gentlemen, we are truly humbled by your presence today," he said.

There were 19 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko, who gathered with over 1,000 veterans and numerous onlookers to honor that day and the men who fought.

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