Saturday marks the 71st anniversary of D-Day, the historic event in which Allied troops invaded Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.

The fight came to be known as the largest seaborne invasion in history, with more than 160,000 soldiers storming the French coast to take on the Nazi German fighters. About 9,000 Allied soldiers died in the conflict, but 71 years later D-Day is seen as the turning point in the Allied victory in World War II.

Many people wonder what the “D” in D-Day stands for, with some speculating that it means, “Decision Day,” “Doomsday” or even “Death Day.” However, it most likely really just means “Day,” like as a measurement of time.

In September 2013, British artists Jamie Wardley and Andy Moss accompanied by numerous volunteers, took to the beaches of Normandy with rakes and stencils in hand to etch 9,000 silhouettes representing fallen people into the sand before the temporary work of art would be washed away by the tide.

Titled The Fallen 9000, the piece is meant as a stark visual reminder of the civilians, Germans and allied forces who died during the D-Day beach landings at Arromanches on June 6th, 1944 during WWII.

This year, allied veterans and families of their fallen comrades gathered Saturday at the U.S. cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach to mark the 71st anniversary of the D-Day invasion that helped defeat the Nazis in World War II.

Even though not everyone can visit Normandy to pay respect to the fallen, we can still remember the influential Operation Overlord through pictures.