Watch 'Band of Brothers' Cast Members Jump into Normandy for D-Day's 80th Anniversary

It's early June, and Normandy is teeming with thousands of paratroopers. Paratroopers walk the streets, drive the roads, and fill the skies of the French countryside. Nearly eight decades after the end of World War II, paratroopers old and young, active and retired, from across Europe and North America, have converged here to honor and commemorate the men who jumped into Nazi-occupied France during the D-Day invasion on the morning of June 6, 1944.

Among those jumping to mark the 80th anniversary of Operation Overlord were six cast members from the 2001 HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers." They had prepared specifically for this moment, training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, just like the men of Easy Company, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) of the 101st Airborne Division did before their historic jump into Normandy.

On June 3, the morning of the jump, the fog lifted to reveal a cool, spring day over Normandy. Before the sun fully rose, a World War II-era C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft named "Placid Lassie" came flying into relatively clear, blue skies to drop its cargo onto La Fiere drop zone: two "sticks" of around 36 static-line qualified paratroopers. The "Band of Brothers" actors were the first out the door.