In pictures: D-Day events begin

1 of 12 Thousands of British veterans have crossed the Channel to attend events to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

2 of 12 At a ceremony in Caen, D-Day veteran and former anti-tank gunner Kenneth Whymark, from Leeds, was among veterans awarded Normandy 60th anniversary badges.

3 of 12 Ex-Royal Signalman William Young, from Glasgow, danced a jig for a French piper at the Caen event.

4 of 12 Old pals from the Parachute Regiment met again on the beaches at Arromanches.

5 of 12 And a former Sapper got to know soldiers from 17 Port and Maritime Regiment Royal Logistics Corp as they rehearsed for Sunday's Arromanches ceremony.

6 of 12 French schoolchildren from Magneville in Normandy laid flowers at a memorial in their village to soldiers of the American 101st Airborne Division who were shot down on D-Day.

7 of 12 Vic Hayman, 79, from Nottingham, who served as a sergeant in the Royal Signals signed a French gendarme's book about the invasion, codenamed Operation Overlord.

8 of 12 The French have tightened security across Lower Normandy to ensure the safety of world leaders and veterans at the weekend's events.

9 of 12 French soldiers visited the main German World War II cemetery at La Cambe in Normandy.

10 of 12 Brigadier James Hill, 92, former commanding officer of 3rd Parachute Brigade, came face-to-face with his own statue, erected at the Les Mesnil crossroads near Ranville, Normandy.

11 of 12 US veteran Joseph Gorsky inaugurated the Normandy Liberty Bell, a replica of Philadelphia's Liberty Bell - a symbol of US freedom - in the grounds of a Caen abbey.

12 of 12 Meanwhile thousands of French military and police forces prepared for a long weekend guarding the streets of France against any potential attack.