World leaders gave thanks Saturday to military veterans for their efforts in the D-Day landings of 65 years ago at a ceremony in northwest France, warning that their legacy must not be forgotten as the world faces renewed threats of tyranny.

More than 150,000 allied troops, about half of them Americans, took part in D-Day on June 6, 1944, overwhelming German forces in an operation that proved a turning point in driving the Nazis out of France.

The speeches were followed by a 21-gun salute, a lone trumpter playing taps and a flyover by American, British and French jets.