Good morning. It's Friday, June 7 – "D-Day, Plus 1," in U.S. Army nomenclature, circa 1944.
Friday is also the day of the week when I invoke a quotation meant to be enlightening or uplifting. Today's lines come from a person I rarely cite, the 45th president of the United States. And I do so this morning to correct an oversight in the essay I wrote yesterday about Normandy.
Last night, after a long workday (but hardly "The Longest Day") I received an email from a reader named Kent. Writing from his home in the Illinois capital city of Springfield, he chided me about an omission in my essay yesterday about the presidents who have spoken (or skipped) the 10-year anniversaries of the D-Day invasion.
Here is what Kent said:
"Dear Mr. Cannon: I was a bit stunned that you made no mention of President Trump being at the 75th D-Day celebrations in both England and France." Kent noted that Trump had quoted Franklin Roosevelt at length in those speeches, adding, "I understand that the fact doesn't fit with your theme, but at least a mention would have been fair."
He's right, of course. But I didn't airbrush Donald Trump out of the history of D-Day because it would have compromised my narrative. The truth is more prosaic. I simply forgot about the 75th anniversary celebrations. Such lapses are one of the hazards, I suppose, of trying to produce a complicated story on a tight deadline. In any event, I'd like to atone for my oversight this morning.
Appearing with French President Emmanuel Macron on June 6, 2019, at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, here is how President Trump began his tribute:
"We are gathered here on Freedom's Altar. On these shores, on these bluffs, on this day 75 years ago, 10,000 men shed their blood, and thousands sacrificed their lives, for their brothers, for their countries, and for the survival of liberty.
"Today, we remember those who fell, and we honor all who fought right here in Normandy. They won back this ground for civilization. To more than 170 veterans of the Second World War who join us today: You are among the very greatest Americans who will ever live. You're the pride of our nation. You are the glory of our republic. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
"Here with you are over 60 veterans who landed on D-Day. Our debt to you is everlasting. Today, we express our undying gratitude. When you were young, these men enlisted their lives in a Great Crusade – one of the greatest of all times. Their mission is the story of an epic battle and the ferocious, eternal struggle between good and evil."
President Trump's speech continued with a vivid word picture of the scene on the beaches 75 years earlier.
"The battle began in the skies above us," he said. "In those first tense midnight hours, 1,000 aircraft roared overhead with 17,000 Allied airborne troops preparing to leap into the darkness beyond these trees.
"Then came dawn. The enemy who had occupied these heights saw the largest naval armada in the history of the world. Just a few miles offshore were 7,000 vessels bearing 130,000 warriors. They were the citizens of free and independent nations, united by their duty to their compatriots and to millions yet unborn.
"There were the British, whose nobility and fortitude saw them through the worst of Dunkirk and the London Blitz. The full violence of Nazi fury was no match for the full grandeur of British pride. There were the Canadians, whose robust sense of honor and loyalty compelled them to take up arms alongside Britain from the very, very beginning. There were the fighting Poles, the tough Norwegians, and the intrepid Aussies. There were the gallant French commandos, soon to be met by thousands of their brave countrymen ready to write a new chapter in the long history of French valor.
"And, finally, there were the Americans. They came from the farms of a vast heartland, the streets of glowing cities, and the forges of mighty industrial towns. Before the war, many had never ventured beyond their own community. Now they had come to offer their lives half a world from home …
"The GIs who boarded the landing craft that morning knew that they carried on their shoulders not just the pack of a soldier, but the fate of the world. Colonel George Taylor, whose 16th Infantry Regiment would join in the first wave, was asked: What would happen if the Germans stopped right then and there, cold on the beach – just stopped them? What would happen? This great American replied: ‘Why, the 18th Infantry is coming in right behind us. The 26th Infantry will come on too. Then there is the 2nd Infantry Division already afloat. And the 9th Division. And the 2nd Armored. And the 3rd Armored. And all the rest. Maybe the 16th won't make it, but someone will.'"
And so they did – and that is our (very long) quote of the week.
Carl M. Cannon is the Washington bureau chief for RealClearPolitics. Reach him on Twitter @CarlCannon.
