Britain plans 'unprecedented' D-Day event for queen, leaders

Enthusiasts of England salute in front of The Brave, a monument dedicated to the American soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, Tuesday, June 4, 2019, in Normandy. Extensive commemorations are being held in the U.K. and France this week to honor the nearly 160,000 troops from Britain, the United States, Canada and other nations who landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944 in history's biggest amphibious invasion. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

D-Day veterans gather during a D-Day commemoration event at the Historical Dockyard in Portsmouth, southern England, Sunday June 2, 2019. There are many events over the coming days to mark the 75th anniversary of the landings by the Allied forces on Tuesday June 6, 1944, in Normandy, France, that became known as D-Day. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)

Queen Elizabeth II is set to join British Prime Minister Theresa May and other world leaders for a ceremony on the southern coast of England that will start two days of commemorations for the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

More than 300 World War II veterans plan to be at Wednesday's ceremony in Portsmouth to mark the dangerous operation that took Allied troops across the English Channel to land on beaches in German-occupied France.

Also expected are presidents, prime ministers and other representatives of the countries that fought alongside Britain: the U.S., Canada, Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Denmark, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also was invited to honor the invasion.

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