D-Day 70th anniversary in pictures

World War II veteran Fred Holborn, from the Fleet Air Arm, salutes 20,000 thank you messages from British Legion supporters on one of the D-Day landing beaches in France. Friday marks the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, in which 156,000 troops from the allied countries launched an attack on the beaches of Normandy which began the liberation of Europe.

Veterans Owen Butcher (left) and Fred Roberts (right) sit on a bus heading from Essex to France for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings. A series of events are planned for the week, with many heads of state travelling to the Normandy beaches to pay their respects to those who lost their lives.

French military enthusiasts walk on Utah beach near Saint Marie du Mont, France.

Veteran Raymond Shuck, a former paratrooper, smokes a cigarette as he visits the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth before catching a ferry to France.

D-Day re-enactment enthusiasts dressed as World War II American soldiers relax at their camp near Utah Beach in Sainte Marie du Mont, France.

British World War II veterans support one another at the Ranville War Cemetery in Normandy.

Soldiers on a vintage jeep drive past the Pegasus Bridge and Cafe Gondree, the first house in France to be liberated during the last hour of 5 June 1944.

Veteran Pat Churchill, who landed with the 2nd Royal Marines Armoured Support Regiment at Juno Beach on D-Day, stands with his wife Karin on a ferry to Caen.