On the 65th anniversary of the Allies' D-Day landings, President Barack Obama on Saturday paid tribute to the invasion that turned the tide of World War II and cemented the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Normandy's cliffs and coastline, still pocked with gun emplacements and other remnants of the war, provided sure footing for an American president. The site for Obama's last speech of his international tour was the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach near Colleville-sur-Mer. The leaders of France, Britain and Canada also planned remarks.
"This day marks not only the triumph of freedom, but it also marks how the trans-Atlantic alliance has allowed for extraordinary prosperity and security on both sides of the Atlantic," Obama said at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in nearby Caen.
"The fact that France fully reintegrated into to NATO this year under President Sarkozy's leadership is just one further indication of the degree to which U.S.-French cooperation can help to underpin not only security in Europe but also a more secure and prosperous world beyond Europe," Obama said before heading to the D-Day commemoration.
The ceremony was to culminate with a 12-plane flyover by French, British and American jets, including a maneuver in which one jet fighter suddenly veers off vertically to symbolize a soldier lost in combat.
At the news conference, the presidents fielded questions from reporters on a range of issues, including international efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and to ensure that Iran does not build nuclear arms. Obama said North Korea is testing the diplomatic limits of U.S. patience.
Thousands of veterans and active servicemen and women were on hand to honor the 65th anniversary of the June 6, 1944, invasion so critical to the Allied victory against the Nazis. On Friday, Obama viewed the Nazi ovens of the Buchenwald concentration camp, its clock tower frozen at the time of liberation, and said the leaders of today must not rest against the spread of evil.
He challenged Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who casts doubt on the Holocaust, to visit Buchenwald, calling it the "ultimate rebuke" to those who deny its horrors ever happened.
In Normandy, Obama planned to reach out for more backup from European partners - particularly France - whose esteem for Washington wavered under President George W. Bush.
Obama wants more European troops in Afghanistan and greater efforts to stimulate European economies. Sarkozy has resisted both appeals.
The Normandy beaches are fitting place to plea for better ties.
Honoring American and British D-Day veterans on Friday, French Defense Minister Herve Morin said, "France is paying tribute to those who re-established our liberty ... France remembers who they were and what France owes them."
Eighty-four-year-old William Dabney was among those honored.
"It makes me feel pretty good, makes me feel like my fighting was worth it," said Dabney, a native of Roanoke, Va.
"The firing was furious on the beach. I was picking up dead bodies and I was looking at the mines blowing up soldiers. The planes come over scraping and we were digging in the sand," Dabney said. "I didn't know if I was going to make it or not."
There's a personal side for Obama. His grandfather, Stanley Dunham, came ashore at Omaha Beach six weeks after D-Day. Dunham's older brother Ralph hit Omaha on D-Day plus four.
Some 215,000 Allied soldiers, and roughly as many Germans, were killed or wounded during D-Day and the ensuing nearly three months it took to secure the Allied capture of Normandy, a battle that helped free France from Nazi control.
Source: AP
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