“Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark on a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you.The free men of the world are marching together to victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!”, said General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
On June 5, 2014 Senator John Cornyn of Texas asked for and was granted permission to address the United States Senate regarding D-Day.
The Normandy landings, code named “Operation Neptune”, were the landing operations on 6 June 1944 , commonly termed “D-Day”, which referred to the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II.
D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in human history.
Here is some of what Senator Cornyn had to say:
“We often hear that freedom is not free, and, of course, we all agree with that, but it almost has become a cliche, and it should not be. When we think about our freedom, we ought to think about those men who stormed the beaches at Normandy, many of whom lost their lives. We must always remember those who fought in places such as Iwo Jima and ran into a buzz saw of enemy fire, many of whom never came back. We need to remember those important events on a day such as this, and we need to tell the story not only to remind ourselves, but we also need to tell the story to our children and grandchildren because they will, before long, have a responsibility for preserving this great experiment we have had in America for over 230 years–a self-governing democracy that has been purchased by the blood and the treasure of those who have gone on before. The free world as we know it owes its existence to the courage, grit, and sacrifice of those who fought in places like Normandy, and, of course, they will not be forgotten.
For me personally, I can’t help but think about Normandy–which my wife and I had an opportunity to visit a few years ago–without thinking of my father-in-law, who landed on Utah Beach on the second day of the Normandy invasion. He said that after the first day it was much easier to get on the beach, but the effort to clear out the German Army and the hedgerows was murderous work and very dangerous. Thankfully, he came home, like so many, as part of the “greatest generation” that helped to build America into the powerhouse we are today.
My father-in-law passed away recently at the age of 96 and lived a long and rewarding life. But I can’t let the occasion pass without remembering him as one of those brave men who stormed the beaches at Normandy 70 years ago”, said Senator Cornyn (source: Congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov/).
See also related video: “Ducking bullets everywhere”, 95 year old veteran of WWII recalls D-Day landing https://groundreport.com/ducking-bullets-everywhere-95-year-old-veteran-of-wwii-recalls/
See video: D-Day remembered http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6EsjZYInjo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69O-dexAQ7U