Solemn Tribute to Mark D-Day-- Part 5: Ceremonies At Gold Beach

Hundreds of people packed the seaside square in the town of Arromanches to applaud veterans of the Battle of Normandy.  A wreath was placed outside the town's D-Day Museum.

At daybreak, a lone piper played in Mulberry Harbor, 75 years after British troops came ashore at Gold Beach.

"It is sobering, surreal to be able to stand here on this beach and admire the beautiful sunrise where they came ashore, being shot at, facing unspeakable atrocities," said former U.S. paratrooper Richard Clapp, 44, of Julian, North Carolina.

Gratitude was a common theme.

Macron thanked those who did not survive the assault "so that France could become free again" at an earlier ceremony overlooking Gold Beach with May and uniformed veterans to lay the cornerstone of a memorial that will record the names of thousands of troops under British command who died on D-Day and the  ensuing Battle of Normandy.

--GreGen