In Pictures: Emotions run high as D-Day veterans head for Normandy

Elderly ex-servicemen are marking the 80th anniversary of the landings which led to the liberation of France.

D-Day veteran Bernard Morgan (left), 100, from Crewe, salutes as Harry Birdsall, 98, from Wakefield, gets emotional as he travels on the Brittany Ferries ship Mont St Michel out of Portsmouth Harbour (Jordan Pettitt/PA) (PA Wire)

A ferry carrying D-Day veterans is on its way to Normandy after an emotional send-off from Portsmouth.

A dwindling band of ex-servicemen will mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings and pay tribute to fallen comrades.

A water salute was performed by tug boats beneath a Royal Air Force flypast.

There were mixed emotions for those on board as the ship headed across the Channel – retracing a journey made by brave veterans 80 years ago.