US President Joe Biden promised this Thursday, June 6, to continue defending Ukraine to prevent it from falling under the Russian yoke and warned that “democracy is more threatened than ever.”
In a speech at Colleville sur Mer American Cemeteryduring the commemoration ceremonies of the Normandy's landinginsisted that “we cannot bow down to dictators” and that, if we did, we would be forgetting what happened with the liberation of Europe from the Nazi regime 80 years ago.
“Are we willing to rise up against tyranny, to defend democracy and freedom? The answer can only be yes,” she noted, after stressing that giving in to bullies “is unthinkable.”
“We will not turn our backs on Ukraine. If we turn our backs, Ukraine will fall under the Russian yoke and then Europe will fall too,” Biden said.
Recalling the significance of the Normandy landings that began on June 6, 1944, he noted that then “we proved that freedom is stronger than tyranny” and also the value of “the faultless unity of the allies.”
He drew a parallel between that and the current situation, pointing out that NATO with the recent enlargement to Finland and Sweden It now has 32 members and “is more united than ever.”
He reiterated his country's willingness to get involved in that and other alliances, noting that “the unique ability of the United States to unite nations is one of our greatest strengths.”
“Isolationism,” he added, “is not the answer. It wasn't the answer 80 years ago and it isn't the answer now.”.
Alluding to the battles that took place in Normandy 80 years ago, he concluded: “Those who left their lives here saved the world. “You have to live up to their sacrifice.”
EU, guest on D-Day
In this ceremony at the American military cemetery of Colleville sur Mer, where the graves of more than 9,300 fallen soldiers In that campaign, nearly 200 World War II veterans from the United States, including some women, were guests of honor.
The vast majority were in wheelchairs due to their very advanced age (very close to or over one hundred years old), although a few walked proudly. Due to their age, it is very likely that this will be the last important anniversary they attend.
He French President Emmanuel Macron awarded eleven of them with the Legion of Honor, France's highest official distinction, for their contribution to the liberation of France in 1944 and 1945.
Illustrious guests also attended, such as former Secretary of State, John Kerry, who was decorated several times in the Vietnam War; or Tom Hanks, protagonist of the film 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998), set in the Normandy landings and its subsequent days, and which begins and ends in this cemetery.
Likewise, there were also veterans of more recent conflicts and relatives of combatants in Normandy.
The American Cemetery Colleville sur Mer It is located next to Omaha Beach. It brings together the graves of 9,388 American soldiers who fell in the landing and in the subsequent battle to liberate Normandy, which lasted until August 21, 1944.
Omaha Beach, one of the five where the Allied troops landed 80 years ago today, and one of the two American beaches, was the scene of the bloodiest fighting that day.
American troops suffered between 5 and 6 thousand casualties between dead, wounded and missing, the vast majority in the first waves. That's why it became known as 'Bloody Omaha'.
