Boston, MA – World War II veterans and Senator John Kerry are commemorating the D-Day landings in Normandy at an iconic and eroding cliff.
The visit is one of several events along the coast Monday marking 67 years since Allied forces landed on a swath of beaches in Nazi-occupied France. The June, 6, 1944, invasion and ensuing battle for Normandy helped change the course of the war.
Kerry and the veterans are visiting Pointe du Hoc, where elite U.S. Rangers scaled jagged cliffs in one of the most trying missions of the invasion.
The limestone and clay cliffs have eroded by 10 meters (33 feet) since D-Day. Pointe du Hoc reopened to the public in March after extensive restoration efforts, organized by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Some half a million people visit the site each year.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.