The British paratroopers were greeted by French customs officials as they landed in Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Footage shows troops landing in a French field carrying their heavy bags, only to be forced to show their passports and documents to waiting officers.
Swarms of other paratroopers can be seen landing after jumping from a plane to commemorate the Normandy landings, while a queue forms in front of French customs officials.
It is a markedly different reception from that received by their ancestors, who arrived in northern France before the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944.
Some 320 British, Belgian and American paratroopers took part in the jump, descending on a historic D-Day drop zone to recreate the events of 1944.
The British paratroopers were greeted by French customs officials as they landed in Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Swarms of other paratroopers can be seen landing after jumping from a plane to commemorate the Normandy landings, while a queue forms in front of French customs officials.
It is a markedly different reception from that received by their ancestors, who arrived in northern France before the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944.
Some 320 British, Belgian and American paratroopers took part in the jump, descending on a historic D-Day drop zone to recreate the events of 1944.
The 250 British paratroopers took off from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, before jumping onto the drop zone near Sannerville to commemorate the air invasion 80 years ago.
About 30 American and 40 Belgian soldiers also participated in the jump, although the American troops were not controlled because they were already in France.
At 1:00 p.m., the paratroopers launched from an Airbus A400M and landed approximately eight minutes later in fields near Sannerville, designated Drop Zone K on June 6, 1944.
The British Army’s 16 Air Assault Brigade sent 250 paratroopers to the event, among whom was Sergeant Danny Mawson, who was wearing a robe worn by D-Day paratrooper Color Sergeant Tommy Alderson.
The 8th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment had jumped behind enemy lines into the fields just west of Sannerville in the early hours of June 6, 1944.
Eighty years later, the paratroopers had a much warmer welcome. The Royal British Legion Band of Wales, from Llanelli, played Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again as the drop began, with paratroopers filling the air.
The 250 British paratroopers took off from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, before jumping onto the drop zone near Sannerville to commemorate the air invasion 80 years ago.
At 1:00 p.m., the paratroopers launched from an Airbus A400M and landed about eight minutes later in the fields near Sannerville, drop zone K designated on June 6, 1944.
The Royal British Legion Band of Wales, from Llanelli, played We’ll Meet Again by Vera Lynn as the launch began.
The wind caused some to fall onto the seated dignitaries and one had to shout to the crowd watching as he descended among them.
After landing and collecting their parachutes, they headed to a border point set up in the corner of a farmers’ field to show their passports.
Brigadier Mark Berry, commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, told the Sun: “It’s something we haven’t experienced before.”
“But given the royal welcome we have had in every other respect, it seems a very small price to pay for coming to France.”
Brigadier Berry was the first out the door of the A400M transport plane that delivered the first UK troops.
The British paratroopers were applauded by hundreds of spectators who gathered at the drop zone about five miles from the sea.
French spectators shouted “thank you” and children lined up to high-five as British troops passed by.
Brigadier Berry paid tribute to the 23,000 airborne troops from Britain, the United States, Canada and other Commonwealth countries who parachuted behind enemy lines in the early hours of June 6, 1944, as part of Operation Tonga.
They landed after midnight, just hours before the beach landings were to begin, with orders to destroy a gun battery and secure control of four key bridges, two which they captured and two which they destroyed.
A fifth of Operation Tonga’s troops were wounded and 821 lost their lives that day.
Five years ago, 225 D-Day veterans traveled to Normandy for the commemorations, this year there were just 23. The Royal British Legion has said these “poignant commemorations will be our last opportunity to welcome a significant number of Normandy veterans.”
Lance Corporal Addy Carter, 22, a medic with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), became the first female paratrooper to jump into Normandy as she joined the memorial jump.
Mrs Carter, from Hay-on-Wye, Powys, described the jump as “honestly amazing”. She said: ‘I didn’t realize how many people would be here to watch. “I feel honored and lucky to be able to experience it.”
Five years ago, 225 D-Day veterans traveled to Normandy for the commemorations, this year there were only 23.
Lance Corporal Addy Carter, 22, a medic with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), became the first female paratrooper to jump into Normandy as she joined the memorial jump.
The British paratroopers were cheered by hundreds of spectators who gathered at the drop zone about five miles from the sea.
About 30 American and 40 Belgian soldiers also participated in the jump, although the American troops were not controlled because they were already in France.
He added that the descent into Normandy, the 13th jump of his career, had made the story of the paratroopers during D-Day “sink that much deeper.”
“We’re obviously aware of our history, but to be here in the same DZ (drop zone) that they were in is incredible,” he told The Times.
Lieutenant Max Phillips, 25, of the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, was following in the footsteps of his great-great-uncle, Major William Tighe-Woods, who landed on Sword Beach on D-Day with the 2nd Battalion. Royal Ulster Rifles.
Major Tighe-Woods was awarded the Military Cross for leading his company to capture a German position near Cambes, Caen, through a “terrible barrage of enemy mortar fire” that killed or wounded all of his platoon commanders.
Lieutenant Phillips, from Hexham, Northumberland, told the Times: “He fought very hard until he was blown up just north of Caen and returned to the UK.”
The paratrooper, who had returned from a training exercise in Estonia last week when the opportunity to jump in Normandy arose, added: “I couldn’t turn it down. I’d never been to Normandy before and to come and understand what those guys went through is a incredible lesson in humility.”
