France seeks personal accounts of liberation from the Nazis, 80 years after the D-Day landings

PARIS (AP) — The French president is appealing to the public to collect photos, films, personal journals and testimony from witnesses to liberation from the Nazis, as the country prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings in 1944. In a video message, Emmanuel Macron called on people to “share and inscribe” family memories into France’s national history. The French president specifically urged schoolchildren to seek out heroes from Africa, the Pacific, and elsewhere, who sacrificed their youth — and often their lives — for the liberty of France. In June, France plans to show its gratitude towards World War Two veterans with a ceremony at Omaha Beach in Normandy.