Pentagon Chief Honors D-Day Fallen
CBNNews.com
June 6, 2007
CBNNews.com - Looking out on the huge field of white grave markers, Defense Secretary Robert Gates honored the fallen heros of the battle that turned the tide of World War II in the Allies favor.
On this rainy, chilly Wednesday, Gates marked the 63rd anniversary of the Normandy D-Day landings that broke the strangle-hold Nazi Germany held over Europe. More than 10,000 American soldiers lost their lives in the battle.
He spoke at the dedication of a new visitor's center at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. In his remarks, he tied the memory of Normandy to the challenge of today's war on terrorism.
"We once again face enemies seeking to destroy our way of life, and we are once again engaged in an ideological struggle that may not find resolution for many years or even decades," he said.
The new French defense minister, Herve Morin, joined Gates at the dedication. The secretary used their moment together to highlight the traditional bonds between France and the United States.
"Minister Morin, events like this also remind us of all we have endured together - remind us of our long history in times of war and in times of peace - remind us of the shared values that transcend what differences we may have had in the past, or may have in the present," Gates said.
Morin noted D-day's lasting importance for his country.
"For the French it was the beginning of the advance of freedom," he said.
When Gates arrived in Paris on Tuesday evening, he became the first U.S. defense secretary to visit the French capital in nearly 10 years. In his speech, he painted a visual reminder of the harshness of that day, compared to preceding day, June 5.
"For those who were here, the next day, June 6, unfolded as if it were a lifetime," he said. "Men who had only recently felt the warmth of their families now felt the frigid waters of the English Channel and the lonely sands of a war-torn, wind-swept beachhead.
"Men who had just a few months earlier been boys in the midst of adolescence suddenly found themselves traversing a warren of lethal obstacles on beaches named Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword."
Normandy American Cemetery, overlooking Omaha Beach, is the final resting place of 9,387 Americans; another 1,557 are memorialized in the Garden of the Missing.
The American Battle Monuments Commission, an independent agency of the U.S. government, maintains 24 overseas cemeteries and 25 federal memorials, monuments and markers in 15 countries.
Source: Associated Press
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