A Second World War veteran will mark 75 years since D-Day by parachuting into Normandy at the age of 95.
Harry Read says he isn’t “the slightest bit nervous” about jumping out of the plane as part of a re-enactment next week of the allied forces’ paratrooper invasion.
It was a different story the first time Read did it, on June 6, 1944, as part of the invasion that marked the beginning of the end of the war with Nazi Germany.
“I had to come to terms with the fact that the chances of me coming back were not very high,” he recalls.
Also marking the occasion is Henri-Jean Renaud, who was 10 years old when the liberation began.
“I saw only two or three dropping over the roof but we knew this was it,” he says.
Renaud, now 85, remembers sneaking into the American encampment.
“We kids were like a mascot, a family pet,” he adds. “The Americans would feed us.”
Albert Guegan, 97, remembers the invasion too. At first, he thought bombs were falling.
“We jumped into a ditch,” he recalls. “But no, it was the American paratroopers.”
CTV News will have special coverage of D-Day ceremonies on June 5 at 9:30 a.m. ET and on June 6 beginning at 5 a.m. ET.
