Young cadets travel to pay their respects at the Normandy beach landing sites

The young cadets are visiting France for the D-Day commemorations Credit: ITV News Meridian

Cadets from across the South are marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day by visiting France.

The teenagers are paying tribute to the fallen, as the legacy of D-Day passes on to a new generation.

The Normandy landings were the largest seaborne invasion in history, with the battle laying the foundation for an Allied victory.

Troops from the UK, USA, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the beaches in northern France on June 6, 1944.

  • Cadet Lance Corporal Jacob Brady, 15, Royal Marines

Earlier today at Gold Beach in Arromanches, a military piper begun commemorations for the 80th anniversary by playing a lament at sea at the exact moment of the beach invasion.

The piece was also to remember a lone piper who played in the Normandy landings and was never shot at.

Crowds of re-enactors with their wartime vehicles, and visitors, had previously filled the area as the sun rose, with some writing in the sand and others cupping hot drinks as they looked out to sea.

Matilda Everett, a 13-year-old Sea Cadet from the Isle of Wight said: "I think it's important to keep the path open that our heroes trekked."

  • Ordinary Cadet Matilda Everett, 13, Sea Cadets

Down the coast from Arromanches, the Royal Marines of 47 Commando recreated a beach landing at Asnelles.

Aboard a landing craft, they waded into the sea while a piper played on the beach, paying tribute to those who took part in the invasion.

Spectators clapped as the troops came ashore, some carrying wreaths.

During the visit to Normandy, 15-year-old Able Cadet William Dredge of the Sea Cadets, is proudly wearing his great grandfather's medals.

He said: "He fought D-Day+ 4 and he fought and was wounded in Caen. It's the standard bar of service men and women who fought in Europe in the Second World War."

  • Able Cadet William Dredge, 15, Sea Cadets

Commemorations will continue in the French town including a veterans’ parade, air and firework display.

Bayeux War Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth cemetery of the Second World War in France, will host a service led by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

In the UK, an 80-strong flotilla of boats will leave from Falmouth, Cornwall, where thousands of troops departed to take part in the invasion, while a beacon-lighting ceremony will take place in Aylesford, Kent.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will join veterans at a Royal British Legion remembrance service at The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will meet veterans at a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

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