Biden Delivers Remarks from 80th D-Day Anniversary Ceremony

And the liberation of France during the Second World War.

[foreign language 00:00:55].

[foreign language 00:01:24].

Thank you very much.

[foreign language 00:03:32].

[Foreign language 00:11:02].

Distinguished guests, please welcome the Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III, Secretary of Defense of the United States of America.

[Foreign language 00:13:48]

President Biden, Dr. Biden, President Macron, Mrs. Macron, distinguished guest, ladies and gentlemen, and above all the veterans of World War II, I am honored to stand again at this hallowed place. We bow our heads to remember the more than 9,000 U.S. and allied soldiers killed or wounded on D-Day by Hitler’s forces.

(14:33)
On behalf of the United States Department of Defense I am here to give thanks, inadequate as that word may be. 80 years later we thank the young Americans who took the beaches, who helped liberate France, and who helped free this continent from Nazi tyranny. And we thank every allied warrior who fought for freedom on June 6th, 1944. And we thank the American and allied veterans who have rallied once more on the shores of Normandy, victors of D-Day we’re humbled by your presence. The young Americans who fought through the clamor and the chaos on D-Day have grown old or left us. And whenever a veteran of D-Day is gathered to his maker in the fullness of time after a long life lived in freedom, he wins a final victory over Hitler. You help defeat what Churchill called a monstrous tyranny, never suppressed in the dark lamentable catalog of human crime, and you laid the foundation for a more just free and decent world.

(16:14)
Together with our allies, we built peace out of war, a hard-headed peace, a peace renewed by constant commitment, a peace forged by the generation that won the bloodiest war in human history.

(16:38)
And so our gratitude must never fade. Our memories must never dim, and our resolve must never fail. We still seek a world where aggression is a sin and where human rights are sacred, and where all people can live in freedom. And so we must rally again to defend the open postwar world of rules, rights, and responsibilities. Those rules protect us. Those rights define us, and those responsibilities summon us once more. At this hinge in history, we must again stand firm against aggression and tyranny. And as I said here last year, if the troops of the world’s democracies could risk their lives for freedom then, surely the citizens of the world’s democracy can risk our comfort for freedom now.

(17:59)
So let us again uphold the spirit of D-Day. Let us again defend the principles that the Allied armies carry, and let us again thank the heroes of D-Day who kept freedom alive for us all. You save the world. You save the world, and we must only defend it. Gentlemen, we salute you. May God bless the American and allied troops who fought here. May God bless the United States of America, and may God bless all who cherish human freedom. Thank you.

Papa. What was it like on D-Day?

We had no idea what we were going to do or where it would happen, but it was the beginning.

It was a very decisive battle for us because our mission was to establish ourselves on the beach.

When we were on that boat, on that Higgins boat, everybody talked about the same thing, helping each other and not getting killed.

We started up this sandy area and we’re hundreds of men inside.

My father jumped about 1:30 in the morning on June 6th.

The plane was too low. It was too fast. The fire coming up was so thick, it was like you could walk on it.

It was something that we had never seen before in all of our training.

I always have said that there was the power of my mother’s prayers that saved me that day.

And it gets to me thinking about it. But as I look over all those crosses, I see people standing up even waving. I have to go back because there’s something there that draws you back.

I have a very close friend that I knew by name of Edward Mirosevic. He had received a very bad stomach wound and I could not even bandage it properly. We said goodbye to each other, wherever he’s laying here on the cemetery here in Colville.

I think of the many men here that paid the ultimate price for the freedom of Europe.

Young people want to know and need to know. Everybody I saw, that I was glad to fight alongside them, they were willing to stand up and not all of them came back.

And they all have a story to tell and it’s our responsibility to tell those stories. People will not be forgotten as long as we keep talking about them.

Today I’m not a hero, I just did my job. The real heroes are laying here on the cemeteries. These are our heroes and we should never forget them.

Distinguished guests, the 46th President of the United States of America, Joseph R. Biden Junior.

[foreign language 00:24:30]

The hour had nearly come, Monday, June 5th, 1944. The evil [inaudible 00:24:50] Third Reich was devastating the world. Nazi Germany had subjugated a once free nations of Europe through brute force, lies and twisted ideology of racial superiority. Millions of Jews murdered in the Holocaust, millions of others killed by bombs, bullets, bloody warfare. Hitler and those with him thought democracies were weak, that the future belonged to dictators. Here in the coast of Normandy the battle between freedom and tyranny would be joined. Here on that June morning, the testing was at hand. President Macron, Mrs. Macron, Secretary Austin, Secretary Blinken, distinguished guest, most of all our honored veterans who met that test at the ages, a test of ages to that moment, 80 years ago. 80 years ago today. 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 once more. All of you, God, love you.

(26:24)
Winston Churchill called what happened here, “The greatest, most complicated operation ever.” After years of planning, Operation Overlord was ready to launch. Just as soon as the weather turned, across the choppy English Channel, the Supreme Commander of the Allies, Dwight D. Eisenhower waited. The largest force ever of its kind, built by 12 nations. Men, guns, planes, naval craft of every description, waited. The world captive and free waited. Finally, Eisenhower’s forecaster said there was a window in the weather. It would open briefly on Tuesday, the 6th of June. The general weighed the options and gave the order. At dawn the allies would strike. The great crusade to free Europe from tyranny would begin. That night General Eisenhower drove to the English town of Newbury to visit paratroopers of 101st Airborne. There were men from all over America. It was estimated that 80% of them would be killed within hours.

(27:55)
That was the estimate, but they were brave, they were resolute, and they were ready. One soldier told General Eisenhower, “Don’t worry, sir, the 101st is on the job. Everything will be taken care of.” That’s what he said. And because of their courage and the resolve, because the courage and resolve of their allies, it was taken care of. From the sea and sky nearly 160,000 allied troops descended on Normandy. Many to state the obvious never came home. Many survived that longest day, kept on fighting for months until victory was finally won, and a few, a notable band of brothers are here with us today. Kenneth Blaine Smith is here. On that day under heavy artillery fire he operated a range finder and radar on the first American ship to arrive at Normandy’s coast, providing direct gunfire support for the rangers, scaling the cliffs, a point to hawk on their daring mission to take out the German [inaudible 00:29:16]. Bob Gibson is here.

(29:20)
He landed on Utah Beach about 10 hours after the invasion began. Bullets flying everywhere, tracers lighting up the sky. Bob drove an M4 tractor with anti-aircraft gun mounted on top, providing critical protection for the infantry against the German Air Force. On that day and for many days after he continued. Ben Miller is here. A medic with the 82nd Airborne. At 3:00 AM on June 6th he and 13 other medics flew over the channel in a rickety glider. Its wings were ripped off by giant poles that the Germans buried halfway in the ground to stop them from landing. They crashed, but they survived and they did their duty dragging injured soldiers to safety, treating wounds, saving lives of the battle raged. Every soldier who stormed the beach, who dropped by parachute or landed by glider, every sailor who manned the thousands of ships in landing craft, every aviator who destroyed German controlled airfields, bridges, and railroads, all were backed by other brave Americans, including hundreds of thousands of people of color and women who courageously served despite unjust limitations on what they could do for their nation.

(30:54)
Louis Brown is here. Part of the Red Ball Express, a truck convoy made up of most African-American drivers. They landed a Normandy in the wake of D-Day. They rush supplies to the rapidly advancing front lines. Woody Woodhouse is here. Members of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen who flew over 15,000 sautes during the war. Marjorie Stone is here. She enlisted in the women’s branch in the Naval Reserve, became an aircraft mechanic, spent the war keeping American planes and pilots in the air. Theirs has always been the story of America. Just walk the roads of the cemetery as I have. Nearly 10,000 heroes buried side by side, officers and enlisted, immigrants and native born, different races, different faiths, but all Americans, all serve with honor when America and the world needed them most. Millions back home did their part as well. From coast to coast, Americans found countless ways to pitch in.

(32:11)
They understood our democracy is only as strong as all of us make it together. The men who fought here became heroes, not because they were the strongest or toughest or fiercest, although they were, but because they were given an audacious mission knowing every one of them knew the probability of dying was real, but they did it anyway. They knew beyond any doubt, there are things that are worth fighting and dying for. Freedom is worth it. Democracy is worth it. America’s worth it. The world is worth it, then, now and always.

… always. The war in Europe didn’t end for another 11 months, but here the tide turned in our favor. Here we proved the forces of liberty are stronger than the forces of conquest. Here we proved that the ideals of our democracy are stronger than any army or combination of armies in the entire world. We prove something else here as well. The unbreakable unity of the allies. Here with us are men who served alongside the Americans that day, warring different flags on their arms, but fighting with the same courage for the same purpose. What the allies did together 80 years ago far surpassed anything we could have done on our own.

(33:56)
It was a powerful illustration of how alliances, real alliances, make us stronger. A lesson that I pray we Americans never forget. Together we won the war. We rebuilt Europe, including our former enemies. It was an investment in what became shared and a prosperous future. We established NATO, the greatest military alliance in the history of the world. And over time, you got it is. And over time, we brought more nations into the NATO alliance, including the newest members, Finland and Sweden. Today, NATO stands at 32 countries strong, and NATO is more united than ever and even more prepared to keep the peace, deter aggression, defend freedom all around the world.

(35:08)
America has invested in our alliances and forged new ones, not simply out of altruism, but out of our own self-interest as well. America’s unique ability to bring countries together is an undeniable source of our strength and our power. Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago and is not the answer today. 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. And the struggle between dictatorship and freedom is unending. Here in Europe, we see one stark example. Ukraine has been invaded by a tyrant bent on domination.

(36:12)
Ukrainians are fighting with extraordinary courage, suffering great losses, but never backing down. They’ve been afflicted on the Russian aggression. They’ve suffered tremendous losses in Russia. The numbers are staggering. 350,000 Russian troops dead or wounded. Nearly 1 million people have left Russia because they can no longer see a future in Russia. The United States and NATO, and a coalition of more than 50 countries standing strong with Ukraine. We will not walk away because if we do, Ukraine will be subjugated and it will not end there. Ukraine’s neighbors will be threatened. All of Europe will be threatened.

(37:13)
And make no mistake, 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. To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators is simply unthinkable. Were we to do that, it means we’d be forgetting what happened here in these hollowed beaches. Make no mistake, we will not bow down. We will not forget. Let me end with this. History tells us freedom is not free. If you want to know the price of freedom, come here to Normandy. Come to Normandy and look. Go to the other cemeteries in Europe where our fallen heroes rest. Go back home to Arlington Cemetery.

(38:11)
Tomorrow, I will pay respects at Pointe du Hoc. Go there as well and remember the price of unchecked tyranny is the blood of the young and the brave. 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? We’re living in a time when democracy is more at risk across the world than at any point since the end of World War II, since these beaches were stormed in 1944. Now we have to ask ourselves, “Will we stand against tyranny, against evil, against crushing brutality of the iron fist? Will we stand for freedom? Will we defend democracy? Will we stand together?” My answer is yes, and only can be yes.

(39:10)
We’re not far off from the time of the last living voices of those who fought and bled on D-Day will no longer be with us. So we have a special obligation. We cannot let what happened here be lost in the silence of the years to come. We must remember it. We must honor it and live it. And we must remember, the fact that they were heroes here that day does not absolve us from what we have to do today. Democracy is never guaranteed. Every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it. That’s the test of the ages. In memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here, let us be worthy of their sacrifice.

(39:59)
Let us be the generation that when history is written about our time in 10, 20, 30, 58 years from now, it’ll be said when the moment came, we met the moment, we stood strong, our alliances were made stronger, we saved democracy in our time as well. Thank you very much. And may God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you.

Distinguished guests, in honor of the veterans gathered with us today, and those commemorated at this hallowed ground, who-