Hundreds of the last surviving D-Day veterans have gathered in Normandy to commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the largest seaborne invasion in history.

For many, it seemed hard to believe that seven decades have already passed since those historic and bloody moments on the beaches of Normandy in 1944.

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The survivors gathered yesterday at the historical Pegasus Bridge to hear a bugler play the Last Post and to remember the fallen. The successful taking of the bridge on D-Day was a major objective and a key to limiting the German counterattack.  

The nearby American Cemetery and Memorial which overlooks Omaha Beach also serves as one of the many stern reminders of the high cost of the Normandy invasion. The cemetery contains the remains of 9,387 American military dead - most of whom were casualties of the D-Day operation.

The Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall were present at yesterday's ceremony and watched as 300 troops parachuted into Ranville, France, the first village to be liberated. Among those jumping out of the planes was 89-year-old Jock Hutton who recreated the jump he made 70 years ago.

The Queen arrived in Paris this week and will be joining veterans on Friday in order to commemorate the day that the invasion began.

Alongside President Francois Hollande, the English Queen left flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and paused to bow her head beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

June 6, 1944 was the day that historians state marked a turn in the tide of one of the most devastating, and costly, wars in human history.

An estimated 156,000 Allied troops took part in the landings that day but casualties were devastating with an assumed 209,000 Allied soldiers killed, wounded, missing in action, or captured by the enemy.

For all those born after WWII ended, it seems too easy to forget the monumental role brave men played in liberating Europe from Nazi occupation.

But for the young men who descended upon those beaches in Normandy on June 6, 1944, the high cost of freedom would never be forgotten.

"I remember every detail of the landing even now. It was a terrifying experience, we just kept moving. It was the same after D-day, we kept moving across Europe fighting all the way." Veteran Neville Foote told press.

Foote was just 23 when he jumped off a landing craft and onto the heavily-defended Juno Beach. The elderly soldier recounted how a man standing right next to him was killed by a mine while Foote miraculously survived.

Going back to honor their fallen comrades is also a way of coming to terms with the part of themselves they left behind on those gory beaches. Tears filled Foote's eyes as he attempted to explain the lasting impact of that fateful day: 

"So many were lost. I'm fine about coming back, but certain parts are hard. When you go to the graves and see your mates, just 22 or 23 who never made it, you just feel it here,"

The 94-year-old veteran then placed a worn hand over his heart, a place where, like the memorials and cemeteries of Normandy, the sacrifice of his fellow soldiers will never be forgotten.   

TagsD-Day, 70th, anniversary