Christophe Receveur, of France, unfurls an American flag he purchased six months in the past in Gettysburg, Pa., to mark D-Day on Thursday on Utah Seaside, Normandy.
John Leicester/AP
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John Leicester/AP
President Biden marked the eightieth anniversary of the D-Day invasion that helped liberate Europe from Nazi Germany on Thursday, attending a ceremony at Normandy American Cemetery alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.
Veterans are awarded a excessive honor
World Warfare II veterans — dozens of whom had been welcomed as returning heroes once they arrived in France this week — had been additionally on the occasion, a mixture of celebrating freedom, remembering the horrible sacrifices it requires, and honoring veterans who put their lives on the road.
“On behalf of the American people and as commander in chief, it’s the highest honor to be able to salute you here in Normandy,” Biden instructed the veterans.
“Here you came, to join our efforts with your own soldiers, and to make France a free nation,” Macron instructed the previous service members. “And you are back here today — at home, if I may say.”
Below clear and sunny skies, Macron introduced a gaggle of veterans with the Legion of Honor, France’s highest ornament, pinning medals to their jackets as the gang applauded. The cemetery and its memorial sits simply inland from the famed Omaha Seaside, on the shore the place greater than 150,000 U.S. and Allied troops streamed ashore in a large amphibious assault.
Occasion nods to Ukraine’s battle towards Russia
Because it evoked that historic and bloody day, the occasion additionally took word of a present battle: Europe is as soon as once more a spot of battle, as Russia seeks to pummel neighboring Ukraine into submission.
“Ukraine has been invaded by a tyrant bent on domination,” Biden mentioned, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The U.S., NATO and its allies stand with Ukraine and will not “walk away,” Biden mentioned. He warned of a ripple impact of violence and aggression, ought to Russian achieve subjugating Ukraine.
“The autocrats of the world are watching closely to see what happens in Ukraine, to see if we let this illegal aggression go unchecked. We cannot let that happen.”
Worldwide, he added, democracy is extra in danger now than it has been at another time since World Warfare II ended.
Each Biden and U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin referred to as on the U.S. and its allies to uphold the spirit of D-Day.
“We still seek a world where aggression is a sin and where human rights are sacred and where all people can live in freedom,” Austin mentioned. “At this time in history, we must again stand firm against aggression and tyranny.”
Austin additionally had a message to the veterans who sat close by: “You saved the world. Gentlemen, we salute you.”
Biden touts engagement over isolation
“What the allies did together 80 years ago far surpassed anything we could have done on our own,” Biden mentioned, urging People to not neglect that lesson.
“Together we won the war,” he mentioned. “We rebuilt Europe, including our former enemies. It was an investment in what became [a] shared and a prosperous future.”
Investing in NATO and different alliances is within the self-interest of the U.S., the president added.
“Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago and is not the answer today,” Biden mentioned. “We know the dark forces that these heroes fought against 80 years ago. They never fade, aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and control to change borders by force. These are perennial.”
Navy cemeteries just like the one at Normandy present the price of freedom, Biden mentioned.
“Remember, the price of unchecked tyranny is the blood of the young and the brave,” Biden mentioned. “In their generation, in their hour of trial, the Allied forces of D-Day did their duty. Now the question for us is, in our hour of trial, will we do ours?”
