D-Day Remembered By Bush 43 & Obama

Go figure that the one day Obama doesn’t talk about himself is during a D-Day tribute. Good for him, and us:

Over at Aarrggh there is a copy of an email sent to members of the Combined Joint Task Force 82, who are currently in Afghanistan, from the French:

To Combined Joint Task Force 82,

65 years ago, at 2h30 (French Local time), you jumped from hundreds of DAKOTAS in the dark skies over Normandie in order to liberate France and Europe.

That D-Day, you wrote the most glorious page of your history and the name of your Division is forever famous in France.

That D-Day, you and the allied forces met their rendezvous with destiny.

6 June 2009, Afghanistan; we are still brothers in arms.

We will never forget what you did on D-Day.

In the name of all the French soldiers embedded with CJTF-82, thank you for what you have done.

Today, in celebration of those events 65 years ago, we are “All Americans.”

Airborne!

Ltc Pierre V.
French LNO

And while Obama’s speech was nice, there is one that many people have not seen because of the death of Ronald Reagan that same day. President Bush gave one that brought the people out of their seats in 2004:

…when George W. Bush went to France, he had an even harder job. Bush’s host in 2004 was French President Jacques Chirac, who had broken with the Bush administration over the invasion of Iraq. At a joint Paris press conference I attended on June 5 of that year, the body language between the leaders was terrible, the tension palpable. Yet, the following morning Bush won over Chirac with a remarkable, if unremembered speech – one of the best of Bush’s presidency.

One reason it is not well remembered is that Reagan, that old trouper, that ham, died that morning – and the news of his death blotted out the sun, as far as the media was concerned. This included those of us making the European trip with Bush, and who found ourselves writing about the 40th president of the United States instead of the 43rd. In addition, and this is real inside baseball, the geniuses who ran the Bush press office made it very difficult, logistically, to cover the president’s speech. I am proud to report, however, that yours truly arose at 3 a.m. for a bus trip from Paris to Normandy to be there for the event.
It was well worth it. Prefaced by a gentle nod toward Reagan (“a gallant leader in the cause of freedom”), George W. Bush gave as noble an explication of why democracies fight as any president ever has.

Standing at a lectern with a clear view of the English Channel, packed with vintage ships from the Second World War, Bush spoke of the great battle that had taken place below the cliffs in front of him, and how, when the firing had finally ended and the wounded and dead were removed from the beaches, the sand was still littered for mile upon mile with the equipment of the armies and the belongings of the boys who had given everything they had.

“There were life belts and canteens and socks and K-rations and helmets and diaries and snapshots,” Bush said. “And there were Bibles, many Bibles, mixed with the wreckage of war. Our boys had carried in their pockets the book that brought into the world this message: Greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends. America honors all the liberators who fought here in the noblest of causes.” Turning then toward Chirac, Bush delivered the speech’s kicker. “And America would do it again, for our friends.”

The field of green was silent for a moment before the aging audience broke into heartfelt applause. Chirac, clearly moved by Bush’s words, approached the American president, grasped both his hands, and for a poignant moment, did not let go.

I’ve been looking for the video of the speech, if anyone finds it let me know.

UPDATE

I found this one with snippets of his speech, including that the last few sentences of the one quoted above:

[Mike’s Edit]: The full text of the Bush speech is here. The following is an audio excerpt of the last four minutes and thirty seconds which includes the passage Curt cites above:

Curt

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