Roy Blunt: “this week, as we are debating the National Defense Authorization Act, we also celebrate the 72nd anniversary of D- day.…”

“this week, as we are debating the National Defense Authorization Act, we also celebrate the 72nd anniversary of D- day. On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 allied troops, including 70,000 brave Americans, did something that no one had ever tried before--a cross-channel landing the size and scope of which had never been envisioned as a reality by warriors. These brave soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy. I had an opportunity a few years ago to visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. I walked through the cemetery with a Belgian guide who had a great appreciation for everything our American soldiers had done to try to bring freedom to Europe again. By the way, later that summer he visited the National World War I Memorial in Kansas City, MO. We talked about the cemetery. One of my sons and one of my grandsons were with us, and they had a chance to identify two brothers buried side by side and a father and son who were buried side by side. These Missourians had given their life on D-day. Our guide sat us down on this low wall with the English Channel behind us where the Atlantic Ocean flows in and out and with the 8,000 or so graves in front of us. He then opened up his computer, and there was a picture of General Eisenhower and Walter Cronkite sitting in exactly the same place 20 years after the D-day landing, June 6, 1964.…”