Posted on 05/27/2002 5:43:08 PM PDT by blam
Bush tells Europe it is time to repay debt to America
By Philip Delves Broughton at Omaha Beach
(Filed: 28/05/2002)
Standing above the beaches of Normandy yesterday, President George W Bush reminded Europe of the debt it owed America for the Second World War and delivered a heartfelt call to arms in the war against terrorism.
President Bush delivers his Memorial Day speech at the US war cemetery in Normandy
The American military cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach has elicited memorable speeches from other American presidents, notably Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, and Mr Bush lived up to his predecessors.
Under blustery skies and protected by possibly the heaviest security force seen in the region since the war, he said the bond forged between Europe and America in the fight against Nazi Germany had been "renewed" since September 11.
"Soldiers in many uniforms are defending the world from threats at this very moment," he said. Yesterday was the first time an American president had been abroad for Memorial Day, America's equivalent of Armistice Day.
It was no mere accident of scheduling. It reflected Mr Bush's concern that America should not feel isolated in the war against terrorism.
He began his speech with a mention of home. "We gather in this quiet corner of France as the sun rises on Memorial Day in America," he said.
Standing amid the 9,387 gravestones, each in the shape of a cross or Star of David, he said: "Our wars have won for us every hour we live in freedom. Our wars have taken from us the men and women we honour today . . . For some military families in America and Europe, the grief is recent, with the losses we have suffered in Afghanistan. But they can know that the cause is just and like other generations, these generations have spared many others from tyranny and sorrow."
He added: "Each person buried here understood his duty, but also dreamed of going back home to the things and people they knew."
Before arriving at the cemetery near Colleville-sur-Mer, Mr Bush accompanied President Jacques Chirac to Sainte-Mère-Eglise, the first town in France liberated on D-Day.
It was here, in the hours before the beach landings of June 6, 1944, that 13,000 men of the 82nd and 101st US airborne divisions landed. Unfortunately, a fire was raging in one of the town's buildings, so the skies were lit up as the parachutes fell.
One man fell into the burning house, another caught his parachute on the church belltower, dangling for all to see before being killed. But the Americans regrouped and soon drove off the Germans.
M Chirac spoke outside the church yesterday and said: "Monsieur le President, France knows what she owes America.
"In this region, so laden with history, I want to say thank you. For all the soldiers who spilled their blood in a land which was not theirs."
Despite France's anti-American reputation, its officials are far better disposed to America than they were 50 years ago. General de Gaulle refused to attend such ceremonies because he felt they were a reminder of French defeat.
M Chirac, by contrast, summoned France's historic ties to America, dating back to the late 18th century, when the two countries shared the ideas and practice of revolution. He said those ties survived, citing the recent suicide bombing in Karachi which killed 11 French engineers to show that France and America are seen as one by terrorists.
Despite the freezing drizzle, enthusiastic crowds greeted Mr Bush at both of his stops. At Omaha Beach, American veterans and tourists mingled with French school parties.
George Memoly, 83, from Palm Beach, Florida, was visiting Normandy for the first time since he landed on Utah Beach on June 9, 1944.
"The pillboxes are gone and it's a lot quieter now," he said, laughing. "When we landed it was pitch dark and we were being shelled, so I didn't really take in the sights. But at least back then we knew who we were fighting. Today, it's not so clear and the war's all fought on computers and through intelligence."
Simone Flandres and his friend Stephane Bellot, both 13 and visiting with their class from Bayeux, said their teacher had explained their visit to see Mr Bush in the context of September 11.
"It's great he comes," said Simone. "We love America like we love all the countries in the world."
The anti-American feelings so evident among the chattering classes of Paris were absent yesterday. René Benôit, the mayor of Dinon, a nearby town, said he had just hosted two New York firemen who asked to visit the Normandy beaches after experiencing September 11.
"Today is a very strong symbol of our friendship with Americans and an acknowledgement of what we owe them," he said. "They saved us. Of course we have economic differences, and there is a small fringe of anti-globalisation groups who don't like America, but they are minor in the context of our friendship."
After the presidents had laid wreaths at the cemetery, fighter jets flew overhead - four French, four American. The last one in the formation broke off and soared into the sky, disappearing into the clouds.(What is this salute called?)
Sam Leith in New York writes: In New York, Memorial Day celebrations were conducted against a backdrop of scuba divers combing the Hudson river for would-be underwater suicide bombers and naval officers scanning the city from an airship after fears of a terrorist attack. No incidents were reported.
It puts you in absolute awe.
No..Was in 9th Army.
What kind of salute was Clinton doing over there when he arrainged the rocks in the form of a cross with a battleship in the sea behind him?
I heard that too.I never knew that and it nearly broke my heart when I heard it.
VERY strong statement. Message to Europe: HELLLOOOOO?
Is it me, or do the Europeans seem to be an awfully self-absorbed and petulant lot?
M Chirac spoke outside the church yesterday and said: "Monsieur le President, France knows what she owes America.
We'll see, Mr. Chirac. We'll see.
Thank You.
Bush was respectful, reflective, grateful.......
Clinton made it an "It's ALL about ME pornographic novel....with aids supplying him with stones for his pocket so he could make crosses in the sand for the cameras..........
Clinton's aids also pondererd singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" while Clinton strolled the cemetery, but even they nixed it as too much propaganda.......
He passed away nine years ago. We continue to lose more of our WWII vets everyday. I am grateful for even the "general" stories my grandfather told me. Maybe it was a good thing that he avoided the specifics. I do know that he lost a lot of friends and came close to losing his own life himself.
So I, having an intense interest in history, and wanting to know more about what he'd seen and done, what the war was like for someone I knew, asked where specifically he had served. Gradually he let down a guard that had been present for some time, and piece by piece told me a little about what he saw and heard that day, and how it felt. His job wasn't to go ashore, but to transport soldiers from the ship to shore, where all faced such heavy German fire. He said, when asked repeatedly what it was like, that it was hard watching the first soldiers go overboard. Due to the heavy German fire, they couldn't get the men into shallow enough water and many men on the first transports drowned --their packs were too heavy and no one had anticipated this aspect. They lightened the packs for the remaining men.
I asked him how the men handled the fear ... how they could just keep going in, wave after wave, seeing what had gone before them. It was tough, he said. He didn't go into what I have since learned, that the times were so full of evil, America having been attacked by then, that a sense of duty did overtake these young men. Perhaps in the face of such monstrous evil, a sense of duty is the one thing that is most useful.
While in France, the enlisted were eating little better than garbage, (raw cabbage, cold beans etc., and whatever the locals would give them.) The officers were eating steak. One night, they got so mad they broke into the storage and stole some good food. He said, "What could they do? We had guns." For the most part, in battle, they had little logistic support like our troops do now. They basically let them off the ship, pointed them east, and said "Go get'em." They had to rely on the French people, who were grateful for what they were doing, for food and shelter.
The other thing he told me about was sleeping in a French farmer's barn on Christmas eve. They buried themselves in a stack of hay to keep warm. He said Christmas morning their wet boots were so frozen they had to work their bare feet into them gradually, using their body heat to thaw them.
When he was in his 90's, I visited him and found that my Aunt had mounted a German bayonet on the basement wall. She told me he'd gotten it from a dead German, but he never would talk about it.
I wish he had written his memoirs. He had an amazing life, also sailed the Great Lakes for six years just to save enough money to marry his sweetheart. He went through a lot, struggled through the Depression too. Yet, he told me it is much harder to raise a family now than it was then, due to all the negative influences kids face now. He used to let his 5 daughters roam the local woods without fear. He said he'd never let them out of his sight if he was raising them today.
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