Katie de la Rosa

As thousands across the globe gather Friday to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day, the fateful invasion by 160,000 Allied troops on a Nazi Germany-controlled French coastline in World War II, Lafayette will hold its own remembrance for one of the most revered days in history.

A public 15-minute ceremony at noon at Le Centre International in downtown Lafayette will recognize the invasion of the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. D-Day killed more than 9,000 Allied soldiers and led to the defeat of Adolf Hitler.

All Acadiana World War II veterans have been invited to attend.

“We want to give the living veterans of World War II their respects, because we don’t know if we can wait for the 80th anniversary,” said Le Centre Director Philippe Gustin.

Lafayette City-Parish Councilman Don Bertrand will speak on behalf of the city, as he said he is often the city’s representative at veteran events.His father, Navy pilot Lucien C. Bertrand Jr., served in World War II.

“I’m simply going to express our gratitude to the Greatest Generation,” Bertrand said about his remarks.

Afterward, guests are invited to stay for a screening of “Mon Cher Camarade,” a documentary about the hundreds of French-speaking Cajuns who served as translators and secret agents passing as locals in the French Underground. Pat Mire, the Lafayette-based filmmaker who directed the documentary, will be in New Orleans premiering his film at The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, which has events planned all day.

The museum — it originally opened as The National D-Day Museum in 2000 – will host an H-Hour ceremony at 6:30 a.m., when the attack was set to launch. Later, area veterans will receive the French Legion of Honor, a distinction given to U.S. soldiers who fought on French territory in World War II. A showing of “Band of Brothers” on the museum’s parade grounds will cap the day.

President Barack Obama, on a four-day European tour, will visit the American cemetery in Normandy. He is expected to compare the Greatest Generation to the “9/11 Generation” — the men and women who have served in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.