FRANCE: WORLD LEADERS AND WWII VETERANS ATTENDING BAYEUX CEREMONY PAY TRIBUTE TO THOUSANDS OF ALLIED SOLDIERS KILLED DURING D-DAY LANDINGS

Record ID: 647597

  • Title: FRANCE: WORLD LEADERS AND WWII VETERANS ATTENDING BAYEUX CEREMONY PAY TRIBUTE TO THOUSANDS OF ALLIED SOLDIERS KILLED DURING D-DAY LANDINGS
  • Date: 6th June 2004
  • Summary: (W4) BAYEUX, FRANCE (JUNE 6, 2004) (POOL) 1. WIDE VIEW CEMETERY; MV BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR ARRIVES; BLAIR SHAKING HANDS WITH VETERANS; SV VETERANS LOOKING ON (4 SHOTS) 0.40 2. AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER JOHN HOWARD TALKING TO VETERANS; MV MORE OF VETERANS LOOKING ON (2 SHOTS) 0.55 3. VETERANS PREPARING FOR PARADE 1.06 4. VARIOUS: PARADE BEGINS / VETERANS HOLDING FLAGS, MARCHING BAND; WIDE VIEW AS PARADE MAKES ITS WAY THROUGH CEMETERY; SV'S VETERANS MARCHING (10 SHOTS) 2.17 5. SOLDIER LOOKING ON, SMILING AND CLAPPING; SCU WALKING STICK / VETERANS MARCHING; MV VETERANS WATCHING, CLAPPING; WIDE VIEW OF SCENE (4 SHOTS) 2.58 6. VETERAN IS ASSISTED TO HIS SEAT; SCU FACES OF VETERANS (2 SHOTS) 3.08 7. BLAIR AND HOWARD 3.15 8. AV HELICOPTERS FLYING OVERHEAD; WIDE VIEW OF CEMETERY (2 SHOTS) 3.25 9. BRITAIN'S QUEEN ELIZABETH II ARRIVES WITH FRENCH PRESIDENT JACQUES CHIRAC; QUEEN ELIZABETH STANDING DURING BRITISH NATIONAL ANTHEM; MV CHIRAC STANDING DURING FRENCH NATIONAL ANTHEM (5 SHOTS) 4.07 10. AUDIO OF SERMON OVER CLOSE UPS OF HEADSTONES IN CEMETERY; PAN OVER TREETOPS AND TO WIDE VIEW OF CEREMONY AS VETERANS SING "ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS" / CLOSE UP OF VETERANS SINGING/ QUEEN ELIZABETH II AND CHIRAC STANDING (8 SHOTS) 5.24 11. FLAGS ARE LOWERED; CU: BUGLE PLAYER; SV VETERAN, SEATED, LOOKING ON, DURING MOMENT OF SILENCE (2 SHOTS) 5.41 12. QUEEN ELIZABETH AND CHIRAC LAY DOWN WREATH 5.53 13. WIDE VIEW OF CEREMONY; CLOSE UP OF WREATH (2 SHOTS) 6.13 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 21st June 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAYEUX, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA8ZI3L1KSGQ24B1QJWWU2FWOUP
  • Story Text: World leaders and WWII veterans attending Bayeux
    ceremony pay tribute to thousands of Allied soldiers killed
    in D-Day landings.



    It was an emotional scene as some 12,000 people
    crowded into the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
    cemetery in Bayeux, France, for a D-Day remembrance
    ceremony on Sunday (June 6, 2004).

    D-Day veterans stood between white headstones in the
    hot summer sun to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-Day
    landings in Normandy. Others took part in the march past,
    their medals glistening in the sunshine, in honour of the
    Allied soldiers who fought and died during World War II.

    They were joined by French President Jacques Chirac,
    Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, British Prime Minister Tony
    Blair and Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

    Blair and Howard moved through the crowd greeting the
    veterans who had travelled long distances on their
    pilgrimage to honour the thousands of troops killed on
    D-Day.

    More than 4,000 British soldiers are buried in the
    Bayeux cemetery.

    Chirac's arrival in helicopter for the Anglo-French
    ceremony had been delayed due to fog conditions, a Ministry
    of Defence spokesman said.

    The French President and Queen Elizabeth headed the
    ceremony during which prayers were said for peace.

    Afterwards a bugle sounded the 'Last Post'. Together,
    heads of state, royalty, veterans and relatives held a
    minute's silence in poignant memory of the lives that
    were lost.

    In a final tribute Queen Elizabeth and Chirac laid a
    wreath of poppies 60 years after the Allied D-Day landings
    in Europe.
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