Seventy years after his last jump over Normandy, 89-year-old American Jim Martin parachuted into Utah Beach.

The parachute jump, held on Utah beach which was one of the five landing beaches and the responsibility of the United States, was one of many held marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Martin and other parachutists from several countries took part in the re-enactment jump.

Afterwards Martin, who was in the 101st airborne, said the jump had been "wonderful" and better than his last.

"Oh yes, nobody shooting at me. It's much nicer," the Ohio native said.

Some 18 national leaders will attend ceremonies along with 3,000 veterans along France's northern coast where Allied forces landed on June 6, 1944 in a sea-borne invasion that sped up the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War Two.