By Catherine Nicholls, CNN (CNN) — Friday marks 81 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Visiting the D-Day beaches in Normandy is one of the most powerful and sobering experiences you can have in France. Scattered ...

We step into the harrowing experience of Benjamin Alvarado, a soldier who took part in the D-Day landings at Normandy.

This file photograph taken on June 6, 1944, shows Allied forces soldiers during the D-Day landing operations in Normandy, north-western France.

By Catherine Nicholls, CNN (CNN) — Friday marks 81 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

By Catherine Nicholls, CNN (CNN) — Friday marks 81 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. The ...

By Catherine Nicholls, CNN (CNN) — Friday marks 81 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.