D-Day: 65 Years Later

We live free because of these men. Because of their sacrifice we've never known a day, a minute, a second of true oppression or tyranny. They knew they were going to die and deemed the price worthwhile. It's a debt that cannot be repaid.

President Salutes Veterans Of D-Day

One of the president's honored guests – Jim Norene, a member of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne – didn't make it.

"Last night, after visiting this cemetery for one last time, he passed away in his sleep," Obama told a solemn crowd of vets stretching farther than most eyes can see. "Jim was gravely ill when he left his home, and he knew that he might not return. But just as he did sixty-five years ago, he came anyway. May he now rest in peace with the boys he once bled with, and may his family always find solace in the heroism he showed here." [...]

"In the face of a merciless assault from these cliffs, you could have idled the boats offshore," Obama said. "Amid a barrage of tracer bullets that lit the night sky, you could have stayed in those planes. You could have hid in the hedgerows or waited behind the sea wall.

"At an hour of maximum danger, amid the bleakest of circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found it within themselves to do the extraordinary. They fought for their moms and sweethearts back home, for the fellow warriors they came to know as brothers. And they fought out of a simple sense of duty – a duty sustained by the same ideals for which their countrymen had fought and bled for over two centuries."

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D-Day

Sixty-five years ago today, 150,000 Allied soldiers landed at Normandy and began the liberation of Nazi occupied France. About 10,000 were wounded or captured, including about 6,600 American GIs. 1,465 Americans paid the ultimate price for freedom. I encourage all of us to take at least a moment today to remember those, both living and dead, of the Greatest Generation who fought to save the world. If you know a veteran, be sure to thank them for their service and their sacrifice.



Letter from Gen. Eisenhower to the soldiers:

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security to yourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have in­flicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tidehas turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Al­mighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

HT: BBC

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