Eighty years to the day that British, American, and Canadian soldiers landed in France and began the fight to liberate Europe that would end with the death of Hitler and defeat of Nazi Germany, President Joe Biden told an audience - that included dignitaries and nearly three dozen veterans of the battle on Normandy beaches - that their war against fascism is echoed in the fight against Russian aggression being waged by Ukrainian soldiers and their allies today.
Biden told the assembled veterans, some of whom were decorated with the French Legion of Honor by President Emmanuel Macron, that it was his “highest honor” to salute them and recalled how several of those present on stage with him had contributed to the Allied victory that day.
“The men who fought here became heroes, not because they're the strongest or toughest or fiercest, although they were but because they were given an audacious mission, knowing the probability of dying was real. But they did it anyway,” he said.
“They knew ... beyond any doubt that there are things that are worth fighting and dying for: Freedom is worth it. Democracy is worth it. America's worth it, the world is worth it, then, now and always.”
Earlier in the day, Biden took time to meet and speak individually with the veterans who had travelled to France to mark the anniversary, presenting each one with a special challenge coin, a type of commemorative medallion, commissioned to mark the occasion.
Both Biden and the veterans appeared moved by the encounter, with some of the century-old men rising from wheelchairs to salute the commander-in-chief.
As he pressed the bespoke coin into the hand of one veteran, the president told him it was his “great honor” to meet.
To another, a 104-year-old who wore a US Air Force baseball cap, Biden said: “You saved the world.”
The president’s commemoration of the D-Day anniversary comes just months before the US presidential election, in which he is set to face off once more against Donald Trump, the man he defeated four years ago.
Though Biden did not mention Trump by name, he offered a wholehearted rejection of the Republican candidate’s “America First” worldview and his affinity for autocrats such as Russian president Vladimir Putin by linking the Allied effort that fought and won the Second World War with the alliances that emerged from it and remain standing together today in defense of democracy.
Biden said the battle fought on those French beaches nearly a century ago proved that the “forces of liberty” were stronger than “the forces of conquest” as well as that “the ideals of our democracy are stronger than any army or combination of armies in the entire world.”
He also said the success of D-Day proved “the unbreakable unity of allies.”
“Real alliances make us stronger — a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget,” he said as he described how America and her Allies had won the war and rebuilt Europe together before forming Nato, which he called “the greatest military alliance in the history of the world.”
At that very moment, the crowd erupted in applause for the alliance, which Biden said is “more united than ever, and even more prepared to keep the peace, deter aggression and defend freedom all around the world” with the additions of Finland and Sweden to the mutual defense block.
The defense of Nato was an implicit rebuke of Trump, who has described the organization as a “protection racket” and threatened to withdraw the US from the alliance or not honor mutual defense commitments for countries that don’t spend enough on their own defense.
In contrast, Biden said America has invested in its’ alliances because alliances are in its’ own self-interest, calling the country’s “unique ability to bring countries together” an “undeniable source” of power.
“Isolationism was not the answer eighty years ago, and it is not the answer today,” he said.
Biden added that the same “dark forces” fought by the soldiers who landed at Normandy are still present in the world because they “never fade.”
“Aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and control, to change borders by force, these are perennial,” he said, part of an “unending” fight between “dictatorship and democracy.”
The fight in Ukraine, he continued, was just one “stark example.”
“Ukrainians are fighting with extraordinary courage. suffering great losses, but never backing down,” he said.
Similarly, he vowed that America, Nato, and a coalition of more than 50 other nations would continue to stand up for Kyiv’s defense. “We will not walk away,” he said.
He added a warning that “the autocrats of the world” are watching what happens in Ukraine, and said it would be “unthinkable” for the US and her allies to “surrender to bullies” or “bow down to dictators”
“That means we'd be forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches. Make no mistake, we will not bow down, we will not forget,” he said.
Biden’s itinerary on Thursday also included a commemoration ceremony at Omaha Beach, the location where American troops came ashore during the invasion of Europe.
He and other world leaders whose nations participated in D-Day eight decades ago were joined by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who Biden greeted with a handshake.
The president is set to deliver remarks on Friday on a topic the White House has described as “freedom and democracy,” and he will be welcomed by Macron for a state visit on Saturday before he returns to the US on Sunday.
