On the recordJune 7, 2021
I am here on the floor of the Senate this evening to commemorate the 77th anniversary of D-day. This was a huge turning point in World War II, of course. The invasion of Normandy occurred 77 years ago yesterday. Historian Douglas Brinkley wrote that D-day was the single most important moment in the 20th century and one of the most tragic, too, in terms of loss of life. I think he was right. There were 160,000 soldiers who crossed the Channel that day to begin the campaign to recapture Europe from Hitler's rule. On their backs were rucksacks with 80 pounds of gear, but so too was the fate of all of us--our allies in Europe and, really, the fate of the free world. Many of our best and brightest young Americans did fall that day. We lost more than 10,000 men in 1 day. The Nazis had spent 2 years fortifying the coast to prepare for this moment. It was Hitler's so- called Atlantic Wall. The beautiful coastline of Northern France was covered in barbed wire, land mines, and bunkers, but at the end of the largest amphibious invasion in history, we stood victorious, battered but not broken. On we marched through France, through Belgium, and, finally, into Germany itself. But even today, amid the flowers and fields of Normandy--I have been there, and many of you have been there who are listening tonight--you can feel, even today, the lingering presence of those who died that day in the service of liberating Europe, and you can see it in the stark, orderly U.S.…
