And a unique partnership between Delta Air Lines, US charity Best Defense Foundation and UK manufacturer Aviramp continues to ensure the veterans of D-Day will never be forgotten.
For five years, Delta’s Normandy Legacy Flight has been bringing veterans back to northern France for commemoration events to mark the historic events of June 1944.
Former Kansas City Chiefs footballer Donnie Edwards, who heads up Best Defense Foundation with his wife, Kathryn, launched the flights in 2022 and they have gone from strength to strength.
For the last two years – 2025 and 2026 – it’s been Aviramp’s enormous privilege to join the partnership.
Last year, we not only manufactured one of our award-winning step-free International ramps in half the usual lead time for the veterans to use, but also donated it for as long as the legacy flights continue.
The first year of our partnership saw 23 US veterans use the ramp as they returned to northern France to be honoured for their world-changing heroism all those years ago.
This year, we all returned to thanks another band of brothers as they too returned to the scene of that desperate battle to save the world from the atrocities of the Nazis.
On both flights, the veterans were accompanied by students so that new generations can hear their stories and learn from them.
Virginie Durr, head of the Normandy Legacy Flight programme for Delta, said:
“Aviramp’s gift allows us to care for the veterans safely and with the dignity they deserve. We could not be more grateful to the whole Aviramp team for making this possible.”
