♪ (female narrator) The battle on the beaches of Normandy has been remembered before, of course, with monuments to those who lost their lives and events across the region every year that celebrate the fight to liberate France from Nazi Germany.

The decade anniversaries draw the greatest interest, and the 70th anniversary is especially important for World War II veterans.

(John Cummer) So they said, "Are you interested in an expense-paid trip back for the 70th anniversary?"

I said, "Sure," and then didn't hear much about it, and I thought, Well, that's somebody else's pipe dream.

(narrator) Many veterans have died.

Those still living realize that this anniversary may be their last.

(Leif Maseng) There was no incentive for me to want to go back and visit that again.

But the opportunity-- I've mellowed through the years, as have we all, and I decided, yes, I would like to go to this.

(narrator) A group of 22 who fought on D-Day will make the trip back to Normandy together to revisit a time and place they haven't been willing to return to until now.

♪ ♪ ♪ On June 6, 1944, the U.S., Britain, and Canada led the largest amphibious military operation in history.

After long months of planning and multiple delays, D-Day had finally arrived.

140,000 men surged into battle in a complex, secret assault, a mission to liberate France and break Hitler's hold on Europe.

My heroes are those men that came across the sand out of the ocean and had to fight their way in on the land.

I had it easy; they just dropped me in the water.

(narrator) It was an impossible mission, yet it was one that had to succeed.

(Joseph Watson) There were no shocks because was this only war we'd ever been in.

We didn't know what was supposed to happen.

(Vernon Brantley) I don't know how they did it.

They were shooting from every direction, every caliber gun you can think of.

(John Beauford) I wasn't but 18 years old.

The farthest I'd ever been was Columbia and Greenville, South Carolina.

Back then, it was just sand and trees and gunfire.

I never did think I'd make it back.

(Paul Arnone) The whole beach was lined with LSTs, so close they were almost touching each other.

I'm thrilled that I could still be here today and after enduring what I was in.

♪ (narrator) Now a group of World War II veterans return to these sands.

None of them have been back to Normandy since the war ended.

These former soldiers, sailors, and airmen share common concerns about digging up old memories and how they'll be remembered by the French.

(Maseng) I had a bad taste in my mouth for France.

During the war, I felt really a coldness.

We weren't treated like we thought we would be, and it might have been part our fault, too, because there were so many of us and we were sort of... unto ourselves.

(narrator) Each veteran has a companion, a guardian, to help him navigate the trip.

Many guardians don't know what to expect.

The veterans haven't shared much information about their time in Normandy, much less the war as a whole.

(Mary Edmonds) I had learned some about what Daddy did, and I was interested, but I wasn't that interested in military history.

(Jeff Baldwin) I've known Joe Champe since 2010.

Joe does not talk very much about D-Day and beyond.

It took him several years of knowing me to even discuss things.

(Nancy Maseng) Dad has never talked a lot about the time during the war.

He's had mixed feelings about France in general and didn't know if that was a place he wanted to go back to.

(narrator) Like other visitors to Normandy, this group has plans to see a series of historic sites, starting with the D-Day Museum in Arromanches, location of the Mulberry Harbours, developed by the British to offload supplies during the war.

(Edmonds) Just to go to Normandy and see Omaha Beach and all those and hear the guided tour, that would have been wonderful.

But it was nothing like this.

(narrator) When the veterans are mobbed like rock stars, they began to realize they're more than tourists.

They're part of the story.

(Watson) We had no idea of this reception that we were gonna get.

(Cummer) For the first of many times, we kept hearing, "Thank you for what you did, for our freedom."

(Nancy Maseng) To see how people were waiting for these veterans to arrive-- they were approaching them almost with reverence.

[speaking French] (Ted Teagle) They wanted your autograph.

They wanted to have their pictures made with you.

I just felt overwhelmed and said, "Hey, we're not the Beatles!"

(Leif Maseng) I don't often get hugged by a man, but every man that came up gave me a hug.

(Watson) Movie stars couldn't have been treated better.

Everywhere we went, they'd say, "Move back and let the veterans through."

(Baldwin) The reaction of Joe and all the other veterans, to me, was one of almost wonderment, how welcoming everybody was.

(Nancy Maseng) We were all stunned.

That began my process of learning what it really meant to people.

(Leif Maseng) It opened my eyes to something that was going to be repeated time and time again as we met other people there.

♪ (narrator) D-Day celebrations take place every year all across Normandy, from town squares to roadside memorials, to scenic fields that, 70 years ago, were the sites of bloody battles.

(Nancy Maseng) One moving experience was the ceremony in the village of Picauville, the 70th anniversary of the village that had been freed by the Americans.

And the schoolchildren had written the name of each American soldier on a piece of paper and put it in a different balloon, and at the end of the ceremony, they released the red, white, and blue balloons.

(Stephen Townsend) I wish every American could come here and see the love that these French people are showing for these American service members.

(Michael Larsen) All these small villages still cherish the memory of what our forefathers, the paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st, what those guys did.

(Susan Eisenhower) Every American who visits this part of Normandy, especially during the anniversary days, is deeply moved by the expressions of gratitude that are shown to Americans, and I'm sure that my grandfather would be deeply gratified to know that this war, for all of its tragedy, brought an even stronger alliance than what we had with France before.

(narrator) People at these sites hope anniversary celebrations can help them protect the land from development so that history isn't lost.

[speaking French] [Mathilde Hie speaking French] (narrator) Entire French towns are waiting to embrace them as their honored guests.

(Cummer) There were bands, children's choirs, just the works out there, celebrating and giving an appreciation for the men that had been there at that time.

Since we were born, our parents, grandparents were talking to us about what happened here, and we're been used that in June, early June, we're celebrating this moment of history.

[speaking French] ♪ (Teagle) There was town after town of banners and celebrations and a lot of people in costumes, wearing World War II type stuff.

[young boy speaking French] (narrator) As they continue their visit to other towns in Normandy, the crowds only grow.

I was amazed at how much emphasis the locals had put on this celebration.

(Brantley) They'd come up and put an arm around you, want your picture taken with them.

(Teagle) Children as young as nine and ten that couldn't know anything about World War II were out there just being grateful.

(Brantley) The amazing thing was the children over there had been taught more about it than our people here in the United States had.

[speaking French] (Denis van den Brink) The new generations are eager to know.

Their grandchildren want to know what happened here.

They hear rumors, they hear bits of history, and we feel a duty to fill the gaps and tell them the story as it was.

[speaking French] [woman speaking French] (Maseng) They would urge the children to recognize that we were the ones that their parents were talking about.

[speaking French] [Philippe Catherine speaking French] ♪ (Nancy Maseng) Dad really wanted to connect with them and urge them to grow up and finish school.

He told everyone to finish school and do good in the world.

(Beauford) A lot of children come up to you and hug you and want your autograph, which I've signed more papers tonight than I've signed in all my life, I believe!

(narrator) Children here study the Normandy invasion in school.

Many have come to the celebration with their teachers.

Most have heard the stories told by their grandparents of Nazi occupation and the liberation.

[speaking French] (Guillaume Bataille) My aim is to give the students I have, um... the luck to measure the importance of history and the meaning of what happened.

The veterans are quite often invited to show up in class, and they are meeting students, and they are telling their stories.

Most of the time, they are crying-- not the veterans.

The students, they are crying at seeing those guys.

[Louise Coueffin speaking French] [Briac Rollier speaking French] (Bataille) When you look at what's happening in France or in Europe or in the Middle East, I guess the future citizens have to remember that freedom is not free.

It has a cost, and they have to be ready to fight for it and to defend it.

(Valerie Gaultier-Caldene) When the veterans come back where they landed, it's just amazing, and the kids are so impressed to see them, at their age, coming back every year.

[speaking French] ♪ (narrator) In Sainte-Mère-Église, the war is remembered every day with a permanent tribute to paratrooper John Steele.

John Steele was a soldier with the 82nd airborne and was dropped over Sainte-Mère-Église on June 5th.

As he fell, his parachute caught on the church steeple.

He played dead for hours, but was eventually captured by German troops.

A few days later, Steele escaped and rejoined U.S.

forces.

[speaking French] (narrator) To mark D-Day, the town hosts a weeklong celebration every year with a banquet on the final night.

On this night 70 years ago, the first of the Allied forces were parachuting into Sainte-Mère-Église to set the stage for the massive invasion to follow.

Going in, Leif Maseng and his fellow paratroopers of the 82nd airborne knew the odds of survival weren't good.

Those who managed to survive the drop liberated the town of Sainte-Mère-Église that same night.

The veterans know they'll be special guests for the 70th anniversary banquet.

They have no idea, though, that it will be such a huge party.

I was shocked that, after 70 years, there were a thousand people there celebrating us.

(paratrooper) Jumpmaster said, "One minute to go," and the green light lit with a chilling glow.

All the way, Airborne!

Airborne, all the way!

All the way, Airborne!

Airborne, all the way!

(Ricardo Rodriguez) They don't act their age!

I'll tell you right now, in the United States of America, you don't see people hopping and popping like this.

Just getting to see them and hearing their stories and talking to them about their experiences, it's just mind-blowing.

[speaking French] (Cummer) It was an awesome time to see the gratitude of a people remembered over almost two generations now.

The gentleman came up to me and said he had been born in 1947 and, thanks to me, he was born free.

Yeah, I'd say that's one of the... the great things I've heard all my life.

(narrator) For these American men, now in their 80s and 90s, this 70th anniversary is becoming the celebration of a lifetime.

When this trip began, few of the veterans traveling together knew each other.

Many were reluctant to talk of their war experiences.

Through this trip, they've shared memories and become friends.

The return to Normandy also brings up memories of friends lost in the battle.

The American Cemetery is D-Day's most solemn memorial.

Just yards away from the slopes that lead to Omaha Beach, this is sacred ground, a monument to their fallen brothers, a place to reflect.

(Leif Maseng) Going in and being able to walk among the tombstones, hearing the birds sing, it was the highlight of my trip.

(Brantley) Beautiful is the thing that impresses, but it was far beyond that, the serenity of it.

You can't help but feel emotional about it.

You relate to the fact these were human beings.

The whole experience of being among so many people who had made such a sacrifice, it was very emotional, really.

(Nancy Maseng) It just makes it so real to see how many men died there.

Most any veteran who was there will tell you that he felt the presence of something or someone.

♪ [cannon firing] boom...boom... boom...boom...boom [jets whooshing through sky] [whooshing] (narrator) An emotional week reaches its peak at the official 70th French-American commemoration.

On the anniversary day, June 6th, the veterans return to the American Cemetery, where they'll be celebrated for their fight to preserve democracy, their courage remembered by world leaders.

(Cummer) I told the guy I was with, "I want to sit next to that guy."

John got into the second row, and then the seats filled up.

I said, "Heck, I've got to go to the back."

The guy says, "No, one more up here."

He said, "You're next to the President."

[laughing] (President Obama) Whenever the world makes you cynical, whenever you doubt that courage and goodness is possible, stop and think of these men.

We are on this earth for only a moment in time.

And fewer of us have parents and grandparents to tell us about what the veterans of D-Day did here 70 years ago.

So we have to tell their stories for them.

We have to do our best to uphold in our own lives the values that they were prepared to die for.

We have to honor those who carry forward that legacy, recognizing that people cannot live in freedom unless free people are prepared to die for it.

(Leif Maseng) We don't talk much about the military anymore at home.

Well, we never did, but... it's special to be here; it really is.

It's all of the emotions from great joy, some just plain fun with all of my friends, and then the moments of just remembering and being quiet and thinking about what happened 70 years ago.

(narrator) They had worried that the French harbored resentment, that memories of the war were best left in the past.

(Leif Maseng) My first thought was that I really don't want to go on this, that those people aren't the kind of people that I wanted to develop friendships with.

And that notion, that idea was completely wrong.

We all learn, eventually, when we've made mistakes, and that was a good lesson for me.

(narrator) Seventy years after D-Day, these veterans celebrated a peace in Europe they helped to create and made peace with their personal histories, histories that some may have been trying to forget.

For their families, it was a chance to finally hear those long unspoken stories, stories they will treasure and share with future generations.

It was also a chance for these veterans to see that their contributions will not be forgotten, that their courage on June 6, 1944, will be remembered year after year by the people of France for decades to come.

(Cummer) It was an awesome time, to see the gratitude of a people remembered over almost two generations now.

(Watson) The big thing about it was having my daughter along 'cause what father has a chance to spend ten days with his daughter?

(Baldwin) The trip for Joe was a turning point.

Prior to that, it was always pleasant and fun to be with him, but you always felt like you were dragging things out.

After the trip, he was much more forthcoming.

(Edmonds) You know, you can hear about and you can study about World War II, and you can intellectually know about it.

But it didn't happen here, and it happened to them or to their grandmother, and they remember the stories.

(Nancy Maseng) I think my father was so surprised to realize that this was a living story and they weren't forgotten.

(Leif Maseng) I think we all were a little timid at the start, but there was so much love displayed by Frenchmen and Belgians and Dutch people and English people.

I think there was even an Irishman there.

(van den Brink) You go into the American Cemetery at Colleville, and that big monument says, "They came to liberate, not to conquer."

It's unique in the history of mankind.

Still today, people fight to conquer.

The American army, the Allies, they came to liberate.

They did the job, went home, and left us with freedom, and I think that's amazing.

It's unique in the history of mankind.

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