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40th Anniversary of D-Day (reagan speech from 1984)
Reagan2000 website ^ | 1984 | Ronald Reagan

Posted on 06/06/2003 9:07:25 AM PDT by anncoulteriscool

40th Anniversary of D-Day

Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, June 6, 1984

We stand today at a place of battle, one that 40 years ago saw and felt the worst of war. Men bled and died here for a few feet of -- or inches of -- sand, as bullets and shellfire cut through their ranks. About them, General Omar Bradley later said, "Every man who set foot on Omaha Beach that day was a hero."

Some who survived the battle of June 6, 1944, are here today. Others who hoped to return never did.

"Someday, Lis, I'll go back," said Private First Class Peter Robert Zanatta, of the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion, and first assault wave to hit Omaha Beach. "I'll go back, and I'll see it all again. I'll see the beach, the barricades, and the graves."

Those words of Private Zanatta come to us from his daughter, Lisa Zanatta Henn, in a heart-rending story about the event her father spoke of so often. "In his words, the Normandy invasion would change his life forever," she said. She tells some of his stories of World War II but says of her father, "the story to end all stories was D-Day."

"He made me feel the fear of being on the boat waiting to land. I can smell the ocean and feel the seasickness. I can see the looks on his fellow soldiers' faces -- the fear, the anguish, the uncertainty of what lay ahead. And when they landed, I can feel the strength and courage of the men who took those first steps through the tide to what must have surely looked like instant death."

Private Zanatta's daughter wrote to me, "I don't know how or why I can feel this emptiness, this fear, or this determination, but I do. Maybe it's the bond I had with my father. All I know is that it brings tears to my eyes to think about my father as a 20-year-old boy having to face that beach."

The anniversary of D-Day was always special to her family. And like all the families of those who went to war, she describes how she came to realize her own father's survival was a miracle: "So many men died. I know that my father watched many of his friends be killed. I know that he must have died inside a little each time. But his explanation to me was, "You did what you had to do, and you kept on going."

When men like Private Zanatta and all our Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy 40 years ago they came not as conquerors, but as liberators. When these troops swept across the French countryside and into the forests of Belgium and Luxembourg they came not to take, but to return what had been wrongfully seized. When our forces marched into Germany they came not to prey on a brave and defeated people, but to nurture the seeds of democracy among those who yearned to be free again.

We salute them today. But, Mr. President [Francois Mitterand of France], we also salute those who, like yourself, were already engaging the enemy inside your beloved country -- the French Resistance. Your valiant struggle for France did so much to cripple the enemy and spur the advance of the armies of liberation. The French Forces of the Interior will forever personify courage and national spirit. They will be a timeless inspiration to all who are free and to all who would be free.

Today, in their memory, and for all who fought here, we celebrate the triumph of democracy. We reaffirm the unity of democratic people who fought a war and then joined with the vanquished in a firm resolve to keep the peace.

From a terrible war we learned that unity made us invincible; now, in peace, that same unity makes us secure. We sought to bring all freedom-loving nations together in a community dedicated to the defense and preservation of our sacred values. Our alliance, forged in the crucible of war, tempered and shaped by the realities of the post-war world, has succeeded. In Europe, the threat has been contained, the peace has been kept.

Today, the living here assembled -- officials, veterans, citizens -- are a tribute to what was achieved here 40 years ago. This land is secure. We are free. These things are worth fighting and dying for.

Lisa Zanatta Henn began her story by quoting her father, who promised that he would return to Normandy. She ended with a promise to her father, who died 8 years ago of cancer: "I'm going there, Dad, and I'll see the beaches and the barricades and the monuments. I'll see the graves, and I'll put flowers there just like you wanted to do. I'll never forget what you went through, Dad, nor will I let any one else forget. And, Dad, I'll always be proud."

Through the words of his loving daughter, who is here with us today, a D-Day veteran has shown us the meaning of this day far better than any President can. It is enough to say about Private Zanatta and all the men of honor and courage who fought beside him four decades ago: We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; Miscellaneous; US: California
KEYWORDS: 19440606; dday; france; normandy; ronaldreagan; ronaldusmagnus; ronaldwilsonreagan; speech; tribute; veterans
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To: BeechF33A
Enough already. D-Day's over.

Come again?

21 posted on 06/06/2003 8:48:31 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (They loved America with the sureness of the young.)
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To: anncoulteriscool



Never forget.
22 posted on 06/06/2003 8:51:51 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (They loved America with the sureness of the young.)
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To: Mr. Silverback
Will do, Silverback. Uncle Bill grew up and lived in NOLA, and was an active worker in the background when the D-Day Museum was being planned and built.

I've been to the Museum many times with him, and it is so heartwarming to see a couple and their kids realize that the elderly one-armed man standing next to them was there. They usually ask about his experiences, and it brings tears to my eyes when they thank him, and usually hug him before moving off to the next exhibit.

23 posted on 06/06/2003 8:52:20 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy
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To: andysandmikesmom
Thank you. That was moving. My grandfather and one of his brothers both spent time in mental hospitals after some terrible duty in the Pacific. My grandad fought in at least one hand-to-hand night action with the Japanese. It's a wonder they weren't all crazy when they came home.
24 posted on 06/06/2003 8:55:04 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (They loved America with the sureness of the young.)
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To: Ready4Freddy
Next time to talk to him, tell him Thanks and my best wishes for him, also...

He should be proud...

25 posted on 06/06/2003 8:55:28 PM PDT by TomServo (Free Illbay!!)
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To: TomServo
to=you....fat fingers.
26 posted on 06/06/2003 8:55:45 PM PDT by TomServo (Free Illbay!!)
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To: TomServo; Mr. Silverback
Thanks to both of you, I'll certainly pass your comments along to him.
27 posted on 06/06/2003 8:56:49 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy
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To: BeechF33A
Enough already. D-Day's over.

Hey Hillaywannabe, your on the wrong board!

28 posted on 06/06/2003 9:02:13 PM PDT by husky ed (FOX NEWS ALERT "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead" THIS HAS BEEN A FOX NEWS ALERT)
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To: anncoulteriscool
Bump and bookmark
29 posted on 06/06/2003 9:27:27 PM PDT by Valin (Age and deceit beat youth and skill)
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To: Valin
Bttt!
30 posted on 06/06/2003 9:54:19 PM PDT by cgk (Rummy on WMD: We haven't found Saddam Hussein yet, but I don't see anyone saying HE didn't exist.)
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Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

To: Ready4Freddy
Will do, Silverback. Uncle Bill grew up and lived in NOLA, and was an active worker in the background when the D-Day Museum was being planned and built.

Isn't that an odd coincidence! I was just finishing To America on Friday morning, including the chapter about the establishment of the D-Day Museum. Awesome!

32 posted on 06/07/2003 12:52:09 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (They loved America with the sureness of the young.)
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To: Mr. Silverback
A dimunitive terrestrial sphere, it is. :>)

If you haven't been, you need to go, Silverback. They opened the Pacific Theater Exhibit on Dec 7, 2001, if you need an excuse to go back. Well worth the trip to NOLA.

33 posted on 06/07/2003 2:19:03 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy
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To: SAMWolf
Does anyone know where one could buy a video of those speeches?
34 posted on 06/07/2003 2:43:58 PM PDT by rcofdayton
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To: rcofdayton
Not off hand, but the Reagan Library may have copies for sale.
35 posted on 06/07/2003 2:49:49 PM PDT by SAMWolf (Individualists unite!)
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To: Ready4Freddy
A dimunitive terrestrial sphere, it is. :>)

No kidding, and it gets even more bizarre: I was going through some old magazines tonight, and one of the first ones I opened was a Novemeber issue of Focus on the Family that had an account of D-Day by a doctor who credits God with getting him through the day alive.

If you haven't been, you need to go, Silverback.

I definitely will! After reading Ambrose's book, I am raring to get down there, and my wife and I are thinking of taking the kids and following the Lewis and Clark trail in a few years.

36 posted on 06/07/2003 8:48:41 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Sorry, I forgot to put a tagline here.)
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To: Mr. Silverback
I hope y'all do make it, Silverback. I'd recommend the Embassy Suites on Julia Street. Decent prices ($139 / night), could sleep 6 in the suite, and a great buffet and / or cooked-to-order breakfast included with room.

It's ~4 blocks from the Museum on Magazine Street, a few blocks from the Quarter and Aquarium, and the Museum is 2 blocks from St Charles, where you can catch the trolley to get to the Garden District, etc.

37 posted on 06/07/2003 9:04:58 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy
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To: andysandmikesmom
I stood there. At Pointe de Hoc. And on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach. I walked that beach. Just being there, seeing it, was overwhelming. I couldn't have done what these boys did. I was so overcome with a feeling of -what, - helplessness, cowardice, terror - that I couldn't believe it. To see those gun emplacements - they were huge!! Oh, God have mercy on those that fought that day - and bless them all. What they did is unbelievable - the bravery, the sheer audacity of storming those cliffs and beaches was courage that we will never know. Thank God for our fathers.
38 posted on 06/07/2003 9:25:25 PM PDT by baseballmom
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To: anncoulteriscool
Leave it to Ronald Reagan to bring me to tears. God bless him, I wish he was still POTUS.
39 posted on 06/07/2003 9:31:01 PM PDT by Tailback
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To: Mr. Silverback; Ready4Freddy
I hope you get to the D-Day museum. It was fantastic. There is so much to see and hear.

My daughter was in college in New Orleans when they opened the Pacific wing in 2001, shortly after 9/11. They flew some kind of jets overhead that day, and she called me - frantic - thinking we were under attack, again. I assured her that we were OK, they were having a celebratiion and parade at the D-Day museum, and why didn't she get up and get down there!!! Kids !!

PS. Check out Hotel.com We got a great rate for her graduation.
40 posted on 06/07/2003 9:41:34 PM PDT by baseballmom
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