LISBON — Flag-waving Harley-Davidsons growled to life. A children’s choir erupted from loudspeakers singing “God Bless America.” A red, white and blue limousine followed in the rear.

The shock-and-awe display of patriotism overwhelmed 91-year-old Marcel Doyon, who had planned on a quiet departure for France.

“I’m flabbergasted,” he said.

This weekend, the survivor of the D-Day invasion of Europe will attend the 66th anniversary ceremonies at Normandy. He plans to visit the cemeteries and return to the bluffs overlooking Omaha Beach, where he arrived a few days after the initial assault in June 1944.

By then, the fighting had moved inland.

“There were dead bodies everywhere,” Doyon said Thursday. He was a combat engineer who served in the 104th Infantry Regiment, and he quickly joined the fighting.

“The Germans were dug in among the hedgerows,” he said, referring to the thick hedges that created boundaries between French farms. “We lost a lot of guys.”

Doyon would later serve in the Battle of the Bulge, fighting from a foxhole in the Ardennes forest outside the Belgian city of Bastogne.

However, Normandy has called him again and again. Doyon attended the 50th anniversary in 1994 with his wife, Evelyn. He returned four more times. The last time was in 2004 for the 60th anniversary.

“They treated my dad like a hero,” said Doyon’s son, Tony, who accompanied his father in 2004. “Everywhere we went, we saw British, Canadian and U.S. flags.”

They also saw the remnants of ferocious battles. In some places, barely standing buildings still memorialized the fighting and destruction.

For Tony, one of Marcel Doyon’s seven children, the trip served insight into events that his father only hinted at in “dribs and drabs.”

“Dad never talked about the war,” he said. When he met the children of other veterans in Normandy, he learned how common that was.

“They’d say, ‘My dad never talked about it, either,” Tony Doyon said.

Yet, the battlefield had become a touchstone for these men, important enough to travel thousands of miles to visit.

“This is probably the last time I go there,” Doyon said.

Another son, David, met his father in Boston for the long flight to France.

But first, Marcel Doyon rode to Portland, led by his surprise motorcade. A family member in New Hampshire contacted Maine Patriot Guard Riders, who supplied the motorcycle escort, the music and the limo.

As Doyon prepared to leave, the men surrounded him, shaking his hand and thanking him for his service.

“This is what we do,” said Mike Edgecomb, the riders’ state captain.

[email protected]