American soldiers on a Coast Guard landing boat prepare to land on the coast of France under heavy Nazi machine gun fire. Picture taken on June 6, 1944, by Robert F. Sargent. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard/National Archives and Records Administration.

LAKEPORT – Local veterans groups will gather this Wednesday to commemorate the anniversary of the Normandy Invasion, or D-Day, the Allied operation that turned the tide of World War II.

The event will take place at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 6, at the Pearl Harbor flagstaff in Lakeport's Library Park, according to Rich Feiro, firing party commander for the United Veterans Council Military Funeral Honors Team.

Feiro reported that each veterans organization in the county will have a representative present with their colors at the ceremony.

The Military Funeral Honors Team will provide a three-volley salute and Taps will be played, Feiro added.

The Normandy Invasion, codename Operation Overlord, took place June 6, 1944, according to the National D-Day Memorial Foundation. It was the first step in the Allied plan to invade northwest Europe.

On D-Day, General Dwight Eisenhower was supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, which included troops from 12 nations – United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland and the United Kingdom, according to the National D-Day Memorial Foundation.

The D-Day landing included more than 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes and more than 150,000 servicemen in what was the largest land, sea and air invasion in history, the National D-Day Memorial Foundation reported. During the invasion, the Allies suffered, 4,000 battle deaths and 10,000 total casualties.

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