World leaders on Sunday paid a powerful tribute to the Allied forces who stormed the Normandy beaches in the D-Day landings 60 years ago to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation.
For the first time, the ceremonies included Germany, whose forces resisted the 135,000 Allied troops who waded ashore in the biggest seaborne invasion in history and the 20,000 who were parachuted or flown in to assist them.
The inclusion of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has stirred a polemic, with some veterans expressing anger that he should be allowed to participate.
But French President Jacques Chirac, in thanking all the Allies for the liberation of France from Nazi rule, insisted that Germany had a right to be at the events.
"As we commemorate those decisive moments in our history, I wanted Germany to remember with us those hours when the ideal of freedom returned to our continent.
"We hold up the example of France-German reconciliation, to show the world that hatred has no future, that a path to peace is always possible."
He was speaking after 142 veterans from 14 countries paraded past the dignitaries and guests to a standing ovation, bringing tears to the eyes of many.
The ceremony at Arromanches, midway along the 100-kilometre (60 mile) stretch of coastline, was launched with a 21-gun salute and the French national anthem.
It contrasted with an earlier more solemn memorial at the US cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, lined with endless rows of white crosses. The graveyard overlooks Omaha Beach, scene of the bloodiest fighting in which some 2,000 US troops were killed, half of the total deaths on that one day.
"You will be honoured ever and always," US President George W. Bush told a large congregation of US war veterans gathered at the cemetery. Those who stormed the beaches had witnessed "scenes of daring and self-giving that went beyond anything the army or the country could ask."
Seeking to turn a page on recent transatlantic tensions, Bush and Chirac both drew on the friendship forged on the beaches 60 years ago.
"In the trials and total sacrifice of the war, we became inseparable allies," Bush said.
"The nations that battled across the continent would become trusted partners in the cause of peace. And our great alliance of freedom is strong, and it is still needed today."
"France will never forget," added Chirac. "She will never forget that 6th of June, 1944, the day hope was reborn and rekindled.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was also taking part in the ceremony for the first time.
He has been invited in view of the extraordinary sacrifice made by the Red Army in winning a war that claimed the lives of nine million Soviet troops.
The weekend has been full of symbolism - parachutists reliving the historic drops behind enemy lines, poppies strewn at sea to symbolise the rivers of blood and gatherings at dawn on the beach at the hour when the landings began.
At Arromanches, Chirac also awarded France's highest medal the Legion d'Honneur to 14 veterans from 14 different countries.
Earlier at a joint British-Canadian ceremony at Juno Beach, Queen Elizabeth II hailed the landings a "major triumph."
"The operation itself was a resounding success, but it was only achieved with the sacrifice of many courageous and determined allied servicemen including a large number of your Canadian colleagues who landed here with you on Juno Beach," she said.
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