Obama’s D-Day remarks….

One of the president’s honored guests – Jim Norene, a member of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne – didn’t make it.

“Last night, after visiting this cemetery for one last time, he passed away in his sleep,” Obama told a solemn crowd of vets stretching farther than most eyes can see. “Jim was gravely ill when he left his home, and he knew that he might not return. But just as he did sixty-five years ago, he came anyway. May he now rest in peace with the boys he once bled with, and may his family always find solace in the heroism he showed here.”

Obama declared that the story of Normandy is “also the story of America – of the minutemen who gathered on a green in Lexington; of the Union boys from Maine who repelled a charge at Gettysburg; of the men who gave their last full measure at Inchon and Khe San; of all the young men and women whose valor and goodness still carry forward this legacy of service and sacrifice.

“It is a story that has never come easy, but one that always gives us hope,” he continued. “For as we face down the hardships and struggles of our time, and arrive at that hour for which WE were born, we cannot help but draw strength from those moments in history when the best among us were somehow able to swallow their fears and secure a beachhead on an unforgiving shore.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090606/pl_politico/23430

I don’t care what your feeling are about our President, and many of you know what my opinion is….he can speak.

D-Day

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of
the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with
our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free
world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened.
He will fight savagely. But this is the year I944 ! Much has happened since theNazi triumphs of I940-4I. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of
war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trainedfighting men. The tide has turned ! The free men of
the world are marching together to Victory !
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less
than full Victory ! Good Luck ! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebwre2lTXIQ&feature=related