NOT THE kings and queens present, nor the political leaders, nor even the Hollywood movie stars were at the centre of the ceremonies on June 6th commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy. It was the veterans. Some 200 made the journey to the beaches where most of them had landed in 1944, launching the campaign that liberated France and, ultimately, defeated Hitler’s Germany. “I did it for you!” read the slogan on the onstage screen that introduced the ceremony on Omaha Beach.

Most of the veterans arrived in wheelchairs, their decorations—and a few tears—glistening in the spring sunshine. They were American, British and Canadian, and many spoke with disarming humility of the day when they plunged into the water under a hail of Nazi fire. “We did what we had to do,” said more than one. “We are all eternally in their debt,” declared Britain’s King Charles, who attended a separate event at the British Normandy Memorial overlooking Gold Beach, where he spoke partly in French. For his part, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said simply: “Nobody in France, in Normandy, can forget their sacrifice.”