Fort Bragg marks 70 years since D-Day with jump

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — (AP) Fort Bragg is marking the 70th anniversary of the largest airborne assault in history with a parachute jump.

More than 300 paratroopers take to the North Carolina skies on Friday to remember the soldiers who jumped into Nazi-occupied northern France on June 6, 1944. Paratroopers from Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division were among the first soldiers to fight in Normandy, France, and start the invasion that would defeat Hitler's armies.

The Fort Bragg soldiers on Friday will receive a history presentation about the D-Day operation and watch a video before donning their parachutes and jumping onto the post's Normandy Drop Zone.

An engineering battalion will continue airborne training on Saturday as they drop front-end loaders and a bull dozer to carry out their combat support duties.

WSOC