Remembering D-Day
It is June 6, 2015 but 71 years ago thousands of men were fighting for their lives as the Normandy invasion began. Below are a few quotes about that event over the years.
"Sixty-five years ago in the thin light of gray dawn, more than 1,000 small craft took to a rough sea on a day that will be forever a day of bravery. On that June morning the young of our nations stepped out on those beaches below and into history. As long as freedom lives their deeds will never die." — former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
"They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate." — former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
"The 6th June is not a day like others: it is not just the longest day or a day to remember the dead, but a day for the living to keep the promise written with the blood of the fighters, to be loyal to their sacrifice by building a world that is fairer and more human." — French President Francois Hollande
"It was unknowable then, but so much of the progress that would define the 20th century, on both sides of the Atlantic, came down to the battle for a slice of beach only 6 miles long and 2 miles wide." — U.S. President Barack Obama
"It is difficult to understand the courage it took to advance through minefields and barbed wire under fire from mortars and machine-guns in order to punch through Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, and yet that is exactly what many Canadians did." — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
"We know that progress is not inevitable. But neither was victory upon these beaches. Now, as then, the inner voice tells us to stand up and move forward. Now, as then, free people must choose." — former U.S. President Bill Clinton
"Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs.These are the boys of Pointe du 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." — U.S. President Ronald Reagan