U.S. Army paratroopers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team parachute during an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of D-Day in Picauville, France, June 8, 2014. More than 50,000 spectators attended the event, where approximately 750 U.S., Canadian, French, German, Italian, Dutch and British army paratroopers jumped from aircraft as part of a joint airborne operation. The morning of June 6, 1944, Allied forces conducted a massive airborne assault and amphibious landing in the Normandy region of France. The invasion marked the beginning of the final phase of World War II in Europe, which ended with the surrender of Germany the following May.