The Conservative Cave
Current Events => Breaking News => Topic started by: TheSarge on June 06, 2009, 08:00:29 AM
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(http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/d-day.jpg)
We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied peoples joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps -- millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.
We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but forty years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here, and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.
The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers -- at the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.
Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there.
These are the boys of Pointe de Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.
Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your "lives fought for life...and left the vivid air signed with your honor…."
Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith, and belief; it was loyalty and love.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.
http://reagan2020.us/speeches/40th_anniversary_of_d-day.asp
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In an Army career that included almost 15 years in Europe, I was nonetheless never privileged to take part in any of the annual Normandy ceremonies.
I have, however, seen the St. Mihiel American military cemetery. And I took part in the 50th anniversary of the southern France landings in Draguignon in July, 1994. This was one of my last commemoration ceremonies in uniform, and it's one I'll never forget.
All those who served in WWII, but especially those who did what had to be done on those beaches and elsewhere, epitomize the sacrifice, courage, and determination of our great Nation.
While the country has changed hugely in the last 65 years (and I'd suggest not necessarily for the better in many, more meaningful respects), we should not ever forget this event.
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http://www.breitbart.tv/html/355193.html
According to PM Brown, OMAHA Beach is now OBAMA BEACH
His words in the video at the link.
Talk about ARROGANCE! Maybe the "zero" ought to loan Brown his tele-prompter.
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A doff of the cap and a big salute to the warrior of D-Day. :salutenavy:
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A special day for us as well.......my stepfather (now deceased) jumped in with the 101 st the night before. Some years ago we visited the beaches, the cemetary, and drove around until we found the actual grove of trees where he and his platoon landed after the drop. Although he never spoke much about the war, he did, during this trip explain the activities that he and his unit were involved in during the invasion.
It is an experience that I will always treasure........
A special blessing for all of the remaining D-Day vets.......
doc
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GOD bless those men. Remeber them and their sacrifices.
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I'll give Obama his first compliment from me, he gave a good speech.
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I hold one of the great honors of my life that I have met three men who were there. One guy stormed the beaches of Omaha and two who Jumped in with the 101st Airborne. "Wild" Bill Guarnere, one of the famous "Band of Brothers," told me he'd been in a plane dozens of times before he was actually in one that landed.
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In my years with the V.A. it's been my privilege to meet quite a few of those heroes. Fine men, all. God bless them and God rest the souls of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.