By Catherine Nicholls, CNN (CNN) — Friday marks 81 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

We step into the harrowing experience of Benjamin Alvarado, a soldier who took part in the D-Day landings at Normandy.

Visiting the D-Day beaches in Normandy is one of the most powerful and sobering experiences you can have in France. Scattered ...

This file photograph taken on June 6, 1944, shows Allied forces soldiers during the D-Day landing operations in Normandy, north-western France.

By Catherine Nicholls, CNN (CNN) — Friday marks 81 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

By Catherine Nicholls, CNN (CNN) — Friday marks 81 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. The ...

By Catherine Nicholls, CNN (CNN) — Friday marks 81 years since D-Day, the first day of the Normandy landings that laid the foundations for the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.