05 June 2024 , 19:55
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Hundreds of Armed Forces personnel parachuted into a historic D-Day drop zone on Wednesday to recreate the airborne liberation of Normandy 80 years ago.
Some 400 British, Belgian, Canadian and US paratroopers took part in the jump and landed near the commune of Sannerville in Normandy. Lance Corporal Addy Carter, who is the first female soldier to qualify as a paratrooper, also took part.
Ms Carter said: "Seeing people here, it's sunk in a lot more. Obviously we're clued up on our history, we understand the significance of what it is. Actually being here near the same beaches they were on hasn't really quite sunk in yet, but it is amazing, especially having the veterans here."
Lance Corporal Addy Carter, the first female to pass the Parachute Regiment's P Company course (PA)She added: "I don't think they've had a female jump into Normandy before, so to be the first I feel really lucky." Another British paratrooper, who took part revealed how his grandfather fought for the Nazis on D-Day. He said he would "love to turn back time" and question his grandfather. Captain Maik Biggs was among 250 soldiers from the Army's 16 Air Assault Brigade who landed on fields near Sannerville in Normandy.
The paratroopers landed near Sannerville in Normandy (PA)It was the spot that was designated drop zone K on June 6 1944. His grandfather Obergefreiter Gustav Koster, who died in 1998, was stationed in Normandy with the German 915th Grenadier Regiment when the allies invaded.
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The unit was held in reserve near Bayeux and moved towards the beaches following the first sightings of the landing fleet. His grandfather, who also fought on the Eastern Front, later became a prisoner of war before returning to Germany.