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Wednesday marks the 68th anniversary of "D-Day."
It's when more than 150,000 allied soldiers landed on the shores of Normandy, France. World War II veterans Josphine and Mrray Bussard are commemorating the anniversary in side-by-side wheelchairs at the memorial honoring their service in the war that brought them together as man and wife.
The octogenarians from Springfield, Mo., were among nearly 200 veterans who were flown in from six states on Wednesday for a visit to the World War II Memorial. The Bussards made this journey two days before their 67th wedding anniversary.
The veterans' flights were arranged by the private Honor Flight Network. According to its website, the organization has flown more than 81,000 veterans to the nation's capital since 2005 to visit the memorials for their respective wars.
D-Day was originally scheduled for June 5th but the weather did not cooperate so the operation was pushed back to June 6th. The invasion involved 5,000 ships carrying men and vehicles across the English channel. 800 planes were also involved dropping over 13,000 men in parachutes.
By nightfall on June 6th more than 9,000 allied soldiers were dead or wounded but more than 100,000 made it ashore. In 2011 the Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that approximately 1,711,000 World War II American Veterans were still living.