Around Pegasus Bridge, there is a swirl of action.

A group of bagpipers are playing, crowds of bikers, many ex-military, are drinking coffee and clusters of organisers are going through last-minute plans.

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On the far bank, two dozen Dutch soldiers are being given instructions.

This was where D-Day started, a quarter of an hour after midnight, when troops landed near Benouville Bridge, and took it over. It was a crucial success at the start of the longest day.

The British troops had the image of a Pegasus on their uniforms and so, as an act of honour, the bridge was renamed as Pegasus Bridge.

Now, just as it was in 1944, the bridge was overlooked by the Cafe Gondree, named for the family who run it.

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Back then, the events were watched by five-year-old Arlette Gondree, who still runs the cafe.

Her eyes still twinkling, she looks over the sea of visitors. “I am the bridge between the past and the present,” she says.

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Her parents were in the French resistance and provided information to the British ahead of their invasion.

“This is such a special occasion. It will be the last big commemoration when we have all these veterans with us to remember what happened.”

But Arlette, the witness to such a pivotal moment, is deeply troubled by the sight of war in Ukraine.

“We never learn,” she says, shaking her head.

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