So few are left to thank 80 years on from D-Day. Of the tens of thousands of American, British, and Canadian soldiers who saved the world from the Nazis, only a handful remain with us, most now more than 100 years old. On this anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe, a special salute to their service and sacrifice is in order. Thank you. Your bravery is not exceeded in modern history. You lined up and signed up to defend democracy, knowing the risks. Because of your valor, our country and our world still stand, our flag still waves, and Americans are free.
Honor, duty, and sacrifice. It is all very emotional for me. I grew up with people who served in the war. Many were my heroes. Even though the horrors of what they saw were scorched into their consciousness, they didn’t often talk about what they witnessed, silently carrying those heavy memories for a lifetime. Nonetheless, my memory is of those veterans walking tall, knowing we were all grateful for their service. A visit to the beaches of Normandy allows you to truly understand just how horrific that day was, and what transpired on that strip of sand eight decades ago. More than 4,400 Allied soldiers died on D-Day. Today, it’s such a serene place, but at the same time surreal, knowing the pain inflicted on these quiet shores.
Omaha Beach, the main landing site for the American contingent, is where thousands of Allied troops died. For those first to attempt to get onshore the morning of June 6, 1944, nothing and no one was there to protect them from German guns. Hundreds of brave young soldiers were killed in the Atlantic, never making it onto French soil. Just around the cliffs is Pointe du Hoc, where Army Rangers were tasked with the seemingly impossible mission of scaling 100-foot cliffs under artillery fire. A few managed to make it to the top.
Remnants of German bunkers from where Nazis fired on advancing troops have been left untouched. President Biden said of the D-Day force, “The men who fought here became heroes not because they were the strongest, the toughest, or the fiercest — although they were,” Mr. Biden said, “but because they were given an audacious mission, knowing — every one of them knew — the probability of dying was real.”
The war’s end was still a bloody year away. Germany surrendered in May 1945. While Hitler’s regime is long gone, new authoritarian rulers are very much alive, a point driven home by Biden today. He warned that autocrats everywhere were watching the global response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “tyrant” while emphasizing the importance of alliances like NATO. He promised that the U.S. would not walk away from NATO. “Because if we do, Ukraine will be subjugated, and it will not end there.” Biden never mentioned his Republican opponent by name, but the president’s message was clear: “Let us be the generation that when history is written about our time in 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now, it will be said when the moment came, we met the moment,” Biden said. “We stood strong, our alliances were made stronger. And we saved democracy in our time as well.” The message: Isolationism is not good for the health of democracies. Neither are wannabe authoritarians who are in it only for themselves. John Kirby, a White House national security spokesperson, told The New York Times, “You can point to real lives that were impacted at Pointe du Hoc,” he said. “You can point to real blood that was spilled in pursuit of that loftier goal. And you can tell stories about real men who climbed real cliffs and faced real bullets and real danger in the pursuit of something a whole hell of a lot bigger than themselves.”
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