Remembrance

Jeff Zeleny has an article in The New York Times about the ceremonies yesterday at Normandy:

President Obama led a solemn tribute on Saturday to the valiant Allied soldiers who stormed the beaches here 65 years ago and achieved the triumph of a generation that charted the course for the end of World War Two. As we face down the hardships and struggles of our time and arrive at that hour for which we were born,” Mr. Obama said, “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.”
With a new era of threats gathering, Mr. Obama and the leaders of France, Britain and Canada paused to reflect upon the heroics that took place during the D-Day operations on the beaches of Normandy and the cliffs of nearby Pointe du Hoc. The spirit of those battles, the presidents and prime ministers told the crowd, holds lessons for confronting the world’s new challenges. The military ceremony came on the fourth day of Mr. Obama’s trip across the Middle East and Europe, where the diplomatic goals of his administration came into sharper focus. As he made his way here, he signaled his intention to take a stronger tack toward North Korea, whose behavior he called “extraordinarily provocative.”
Mr. Obama delivered a sixteen-minute address steeped in history, following President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain. The four men, along with Prince Charles of Britain, faced a crowd that stretched the length of the cemetery. “The great totalitarian systems of the 20th century have been defeated,” Mr. Sarkozy said. “The threats that loom over the future of humanity today are of a different kind, but they are no less serious.” And Mr. Brown, who elicited a laugh from the crowd when he mistakenly referred to Omaha Beach as “Obama Beach,” said: “We must be liberators for our generation.”
None of the leaders who took the stage had war stories of their own to offer. So Mr. Obama, born 17 years after D-Day, invoked his deceased grandfather, “who arrived on this beach six weeks after D-Day and marched across Europe in Patton’s Army.” And he introduced his great-uncle, Charles Payne, who fought in Germany and traveled here from Chicago. He then told the story of Zane Schlemmer of Kane’ohe, Hawaii, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division who parachuted into a dark marsh and was separated from his men, but helped liberate Carentan, the town in which he landed. He told the story of Anthony Ruggiero of Plymouth, Massachusetts, a member of the Second Ranger Battalion who spent three hours in chilling water before scaling the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc in a mission to destroy German guns. And he told the story of Jim Norene, a member of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment who traveled here from Heppner, Oregon, for the 65th anniversary. He was ill but came anyway, Mr. Obama said, and Mr. Norene died in his sleep Friday evening after visiting Colleville one last time. “Our history has always been the sum total of the choices made and the actions taken by each individual man and woman,” Mr. Obama said. “It has always been up to us.”
In brilliant sunshine that gave way to imposing clouds and a cool breeze on Saturday, waves crashed against the landing beaches where 156,000 allied troops, almost half of them American, came ashore beginning on 6 June 1944. Above the beaches, now best known by their D-Day code names— Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold, and Sword— thousands of people made a pilgrimage here.
The age distribution of the crowd was striking, with far fewer World War Two veterans on hand than children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the men who fought here. “There are a lot fewer of us— our generation is sort of slipping away,” former Senator Bob Dole said in an interview as he was surrounded by autograph seekers and well-wishers. “But it’s great to see people waving at you as you’re driving down the highway and roads. It shows that the French understand what America did for them and a lot of other people.”
In this American military cemetery, 9,387 marble headstones mark the resting places of American soldiers who died in the invasion and its aftermath. Most are identified by name, rank, and their home state. Others are left with this inscription: “Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms, known but to God.”
Before arriving here for the afternoon ceremony, Mr. Obama met with Mr. Sarkozy in Caen, a city of churches nearly destroyed by Allied artillery and bombs. The two leaders said they found common ground on issues like the Middle East, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and threats from North Korea, with Mr. Obama signaling a stronger approach toward that nation. “We are not intending to continue a policy of rewarding provocation,” Mr. Obama said, referring to the latest nuclear test and missile test-launches by North Korea.
But as Mr. Obama’s five-day tour through the Middle East and Europe drew to a close, the attention was focused on honoring America’s role in yesterday’s wars. The 65th anniversary is expected to be one of the last gatherings where living veterans are present.
During a 21-gun salute, smoke rose from a section of Omaha Beach once more on Saturday. Young sailors in crisp black uniforms and aging veterans with their war medals saluted during the playing of “Taps” and a flyover of British, French and American fighter jets.
Hyrum Smith Shumway, an 87-year-old Army veteran from Eldersburg, Maryland, was making his fourth trip to Normandy. His son, grandson, and great-grandson listened as Mr. Shumway talked about the day of the invasion, when he was 22. “We climbed up the hill. We crossed here, where the cemeteries are now,” said Mr. Shumway, who was a second lieutenant in the First Army Division, 18th Regiment, Company B. “We were the second ones to land.” Six weeks after D-Day, a mine explosion blinded him for life. Mr. Shumway said he had loved combat but now longed for peace. He is hopeful that Mr. Obama will help achieve that goal for the United States. “I think it’s wonderful that he has come over here to try to make peace in Israel and with the Muslims,” Mr. Shumway said, sitting in a wheelchair surrounded by white marble markers. “He’s sure a good speaker. I hope he’s able to bring peace to the world, but I don’t know that he will.”