![]() Roosevelt went to Gettysburg to inaugurate a memorial there. In 1938, when the Civil War was just barely close enough to touch, President Franklin D. “I always liken D-Day at 75 to 1938 in Gettysburg,” says Robert Dalessandro, the deputy secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, which maintains the cemetery here and many others around the world. It’s hard not to see this year’s ceremony as the end of a cycle of history-one that began with the Allies, led by the United States, turning the course of war here in Normandy and ended with the president of “America First,” who has made questioning the transatlantic alliance a pillar of his presidency. He’s been lashing out at Europe, accusing it of trying to rip off the United States, which has provided for the Continent’s defense since the Second World War.īut something else will be different too: Ceremonies are held every five years, and this will likely be the last time D-Day veterans will attend. Donald Trump, who will attend a ceremony here with French President Emmanuel Macron, has been threatening-in words as powerful as actions-the solidarity and mutual understandings of NATO. This year’s commemoration, though, will likely have a different tone. In the past, American presidents have used D-Day to mark a moment-from Ronald Reagan, who gave his “ Boys of Pointe du Hoc” speech at the 40th anniversary in 1984, at the peak of the Cold War, to Barack Obama, who addressed the 9/11 generation of veterans at the 70th in 2014. June 6 is the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. I had been told nothing quite prepares you for this place, and it was true. I could see them from a lookout on the pathway to the Normandy American Cemetery here, where more than 9,300 servicemen and a few servicewomen are buried-neat rows of milk-white marble crosses, 150 Stars of David, and 307 graves of unknown dead that read, simply, “Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms, known but to God.” The morning I went, the sun was bright, and a few people were walking on the sand with a dog. The cliffs are thick with rough green vegetation and drop down-sharply, then more gradually-to a Prussian-blue sea and a windswept beach. Ahead of the anniversary, our writer retraced their steps, and considered how a chapter that began with that effort may now be closing.ĬOLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France-The first thing you notice, at the end of the narrow roads that lead to this precipice, is how peaceful this place is. ![]() Editor’s note: Seventy-five years ago, Allied forces launched the offensive that signaled the beginning of the end of Nazi occupation of Europe.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |