Today, President Obama, Queen Elizabeth II, and other Allied leaders have gathered on the Normandy coast to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, which, at great cost in the blood of soldiers, sailors, and airmen, ensured the doom of the Nazi tyranny and all the freedoms we take so casually for granted today. I hope that all my truckbuddies will take just a single minute out of their day to reflect upon the enormous sacrifice offered up on that cloudy, gloomy day so long ago now, when the future was far from certain, and the way forward so full of deadly peril.
An official newsreel showing the preparations for the invasion:
Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower's address to the troops on the eve of the invasion:
King George VI broadcast this message to Britain, the Empire, and the world on D-Day:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's broadcast to the nation on June 6, 1944, the famous D-Day Prayer:
On the CBC, Prime Minister Mackenzie King spoke to the people of Canada:
And a personal viewpoint with vivid color film taken before and after the invasion by newsreel cameraman Jack Lieb:
Finally, Part 1 of a fascinating series of transcriptions of CBS Radio's live coverage of the invasion, with European reports relayed to New York:
Lots of recent video interviews with surviving veterans of D-Day are at the National WWII Museum website here, like this one:
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2 comments:
Touching to hear the king struggle to speak clearly.
What a great struggle they all went through, on the home front, on the beaches and even in their way in the palaces.
That we live today in freedom, albeit an imperfect one, is due to their sacrifices.
Yes, quite right you are.
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