US servicemen escort US WWII veterans in wheelchairs at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer in northwestern France, on June 6. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

This afternoon’s international ceremony on Omaha Beach marking 80 years since the D-Day landings may very well be the last major commemoration to involve living veterans in significant numbers. Major events are held every five years, and all of the veterans are in their late 90s or early 100s.

About 200 veterans are believed to have traveled to Normandy for today’s events – approximately 150 from the United States and more than 40 from the United Kingdom. Another 15 were part of the Canadian delegation that made the transatlantic trip.

“Veterans are the heart of this commemoration,” said Gen. Michel Delion, the CEO of the French government agency in charge of the French commemoration efforts, Mission Liberation. “We are perfectly aware that for these centenarians, this is maybe the last chance to return to the beaches where they landed, where they fought and where their brothers-in-arms fell,”

Delion told reporters in April that organizers were attempting to do everything they could to make the ceremony as easy as possible for the centenarians in attendance. Their rehearsals even included wheelchair runs, Delion said.

Among the measures Delion said he and his team were planning on taking were keeping the ceremonies less than an hour in length and trying to ensure they start on time so that the centenarians wouldn’t spend too much time seated.

A handful of veterans also arrived at the ceremony after many official dignitaries and heads of state and government, in a break with normal protocol for these types of events.

Delion said in April that French organizers were considering such a move as a means of making the ceremony easier on vets.