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| D-Day veterans to welcome Obama | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| President Barack Obama is to mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day at a series of events honouring European and American veterans in Normandy. | |
| Mr Obama will speak at the American cemetery near Omaha Beach, scene of fierce fighting on 6 June 1944. | |
| He will meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier in the day. The prime ministers of Canada and the UK are also in Normandy for the anniversary. | |
| The Allies suffered 215,000 casualties on D-Day and in the Normandy campaign. | The Allies suffered 215,000 casualties on D-Day and in the Normandy campaign. |
| Germany suffered similar losses as the Allies fought desperately up the beaches and into the French countryside to form a bridgehead. | Germany suffered similar losses as the Allies fought desperately up the beaches and into the French countryside to form a bridgehead. |
| Brief trip | Brief trip |
| Saturday's events began in Bayeux with a service of remembrance and commemoration organised by the Royal British Legion. | |
| British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his French counterpart, Francois Fillon, both laid wreaths inside Bayeux cathedral. | |
| It's a great feeling to come here. My comrades though are buried over at Omaha US veteran Austin Cox class="" href="/1/hi/uk/8086672.stm">Charles and PM at D-Day service | |
| Mr Obama flew into Paris late on Friday after a brief trip to Germany in which he and Chancellor Angela Merkel toured the Buchenwald concentration camp. | |
| Later on Saturday he will join Mr Sarkozy for talks in Caen before delivering a speech at the US war cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks Omaha Beach. | |
| Veterans of the landings will be among the invited audience, and Mr Sarkozy will award the French Legion d'Honneur, the country's highest military honour, to one American, one Briton, one Canadian and one Frenchman. | |
| Mr Obama's great-uncle, Charlie Payne, 84, who helped to liberate a concentration camp near Buchenwald, has also travelled to Normandy. | |
| British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Canada's Stephen Harper will also be at the service, as will Britain's Prince Charles. | |
| Many veterans have come to remember fallen comrades | |
| He was invited after the US intervened in a cross-channel row over the lack of an invitation for Queen Elizabeth. | |
| "It's a great feeling ... to come here," said Austin Cox, 90, of Maryland, who landed on Omaha Beach as a sergeant with the 29th Division of the US 115th Infantry Regiment. | "It's a great feeling ... to come here," said Austin Cox, 90, of Maryland, who landed on Omaha Beach as a sergeant with the 29th Division of the US 115th Infantry Regiment. |
| "My comrades though are buried over at Omaha," he said. | "My comrades though are buried over at Omaha," he said. |
| US First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, seven, arrived in France shortly before the president. | US First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, seven, arrived in France shortly before the president. |
| After the D-Day ceremonies, President Obama and his family will return to Paris where they plan to visit Notre Dame Cathedral. They are due to fly back to the US on Sunday. | After the D-Day ceremonies, President Obama and his family will return to Paris where they plan to visit Notre Dame Cathedral. They are due to fly back to the US on Sunday. |