80 Years

A mass parachute jump over Normandy kicks off commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day

Dozens of World War II veterans are converging on France to revisit old memories, make new ones, and hammer home a message that survivors of D-Day and the ensuing Battle of Normandy, and of other World War II theaters, have repeated time and time again — that war is hell.

It's an awesome thing to see, an air drop like this. There's a photo accompanying this AP story. And there are a lot of movie depictions, of course. 

D-Day is a military term for the date on which an event is to occur. H-Hour is the designated hour. And so forth. This particular D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944. Today, 80 years ago, would have been D minus 4.