The UK Defence Secretary John Healey gave a speech at the International Commemoration at Utah Beach yesterday to mark 81 years since the D-Day Landings.
This year’s event focussed on the US contribution to the Normandy campaign, but paid tribute to all who died in the operation.
Mr Healey said: “Bonjour tout le monde. 81 years ago today, tyranny bowed when the courage of free men forced open the gates of liberation.
Within hours, the people of Sainte-Mère-Église had control of their destiny again.
Within three months, the Tricolor once again flew from the Eiffel Tower.
Within a year the continent of Europe would once again know peace.
It is a rare thing to have changed the course of history, but that is what the veterans of Normandy did.
They fought for a future that they knew they may not live to see.
And through their valour we inherited a free world.
We are humbled to be in your company. We give eternal thanks for your sacrifice.
And I’m also grateful to the Comité du Débarquement, as the stewards of our shared history. With every year that passes, your work becomes more important.
And 81 years on, we return to Normandy to ask:
What principle guided 150,000 souls across that body of water?
What belief compelled the paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st to thunder through the skies above us?
What force drove the ‘Ivy’ men to charge these dunes at Utah?
…all to liberate people they had never known in a land they had never seen.
And that is the power of unity, the power of friendship, the faith in democracy and freedom.
And through the sacrifices made on these shores we learn the true strength of alliances.
The strength of our war-fighters standing together as they continue to do on operations today – personnel from Manchester, from Marseilles, from Minnesota.
The strength of our nations standing together in NATO to deter current conflicts and adversaries.
The responsibility to safeguard D-Day’s legacy and freedom rests today with us.
So, let us give everlasting honour to our Normandy veterans… for whom the Longest Day never ended.
And let us find the strength to carry on in their names and to carry forward their cause.
Thank you.”
