On 57th anniversary, D-Day veterans honored in France, U.S.

D-Day Memorial ceremony in Bedford, Virginia on Wednesday

BEDFORD, Virginia (CNN) - Veterans on Wednesday marked the 57th anniversary of history's largest invasion with ceremonies on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the tiny town of Bedford, Virginia, President George W. Bush dedicated the National D-Day Memorial in a solemn ceremony.

Bedford is the site of the new memorial of concrete and polished granite because on D-Day the Virginia town of 3,400 people lost 23 of the 35 soldiers it had sent overseas. It was the highest per-capita loss for any U.S. community.

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"Bedford has a special place in our history" Bush said. "But there were neighborhoods like these all over America, from the smallest villages, to the greatest cities, and somehow they all produced a generation of young men and women, who ... gathered in advance as one and changed the course of history. Whatever it is about America that has given us such citizens, it is the greatest quality we have, and may it never leave us," Bush said.

On the other side of the Atlantic, veterans of the successful 1944 allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France, gathered -- as they have each year since -- on a Normandy beach to reflect on their sacrifice and to honor their fallen comrades.

The memorial depicts allied forces storming the beaches of Normandy

On June 6, 1944, D-Day, 156,000 soldiers from the United States and 11 other countries attacked German dictator Adolf Hitler's Atlantic Wall on the northern coast of France.

It was the largest air, land and sea invasion ever undertaken, including more than 5,000 ships, 10,000 airplanes, and 250,000 service men and women, according to the National D-Day Memorial Foundation.

Allied Forces on that day suffered 9,758 casualties, according to the National D-Day Memorial Foundation. American forces killed in the battle numbered 6,603.