D-Day ceremonies honor dead and living heroes

OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — As young soldiers they waded through surf and gunfire to fight the Nazis, the dwindling number of World War II veterans, now bent with age, joined a new generation of leaders Thursday to honor the dead, the living and the fight for democracy on the shore where they landed on D-Day 80 years ago.

The war in Ukraine overshadowed the ceremonies in Normandy, a grim example of lives and cities in Europe suffering anew from war. The Ukrainian president was greeted with a standing ovation and cheers. Russia, a key World War II ally whose large-scale invasion of its smaller neighbor in 2022 set Europe on a new warpath, was not invited.

The commemorations for the more than 4,400 Allied casualties of D-Day and the many tens of thousands more, including French civilians, killed in the subsequent Battle of Normandy were marked by fear that the lessons of World War II were in danger of fading.

“There are things worth fighting for,” said Walter Stitt, who fought in tanks himself and turns 100 in July, as he visited Omaha Beach this week. “Although I wish there was another way than trying to kill each other.”

“One day we will know, but I will not be there anymore,” he said.

US President Joe Biden directly linked Ukraine’s fight for its young democracy to the battle to defeat Nazi Germany.

“Surrendering to tyrants, bowing to dictators, is simply unthinkable,” Biden said. “If we did that, we would forget what happened here on these sacred beaches.”

While the now centenarian veterans revived old memories and buried their fallen comrades in the graves of Normandy, the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the international D-Day commemoration linked the terrible past of World War II with the tense present. The number of dead and injured on both sides in Ukraine is estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

Despite Russia’s absence, French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to those who fought on the Eastern Front, “and the determined commitment of the Red Army and all the people who were part of the then Soviet Union.”

But it was the landing on June 6, 1944, and the subsequent fighting in Normandy that finally drove the Nazis out of France.

“You came here because the free world needed each and every one of you and you answered that call,” Macron said. “You came here to make France a free nation. You are back home today, if I may say so.”

The French president awarded the Legion of Honor to 14 US veterans and one British veteran. Among the Americans was Edward Berthold, a pilot who flew three missions over France in May 1944 before taking part in an operation at Saint-Lo in Normandy on D-Day. He flew a total of 35 combat missions during World War II.

Berthold later read a letter he had written home the next day, which revealed that even as a young man he was aware of the significance of D-Day.

“Wednesday night, June 7, 1944. Dear Mom, just a note to tell you we are all doing well. We flew mission number 10 on D-Day,” he wrote. “What we saw was truly a great show. This is what everyone has been waiting for.”

Macron also awarded the Legion of Honour to 103-year-old Christian Lamb. The daughter of a Royal Navy admiral, she was studying in Normandy in 1939 when her father called her back to London. There, Lamb produced detailed maps that served as a guide for the crews of the landing craft on D-Day.

The French President leaned down to Lamb, who was sitting in a wheelchair, pinned the medal on her, kissed her on both cheeks and described her as one of the “heroes in the shadows”.

Aware that age and time are inevitable for WWII veterans, crowds of fans in period uniforms and vehicles, as well as tourists enjoying the spectacle, flocked to Normandy for the 80th anniversary celebrations. At the international ceremony that followed, the veterans received a standing ovation as they were paraded past the stands in a majestic line of wheelchairs, avoiding the long walk along the seafront.

“We just have to remember the sacrifices of everyone who gave us our freedom,” said Becky Kraubetz, a Briton who now lives in Florida. Her grandfather served in the British army during World War II and was captured on Malta. She was part of a crowd of thousands that stretched for several miles along Utah Beach, the westernmost of the D-Day beaches.

In a quiet spot away from the pomp, Frenchman Christophe Receveur paid his own tribute by unfurling an American flag he had bought on a trip to Pennsylvania to commemorate those killed on D-Day.

“To forget them is to let them die again,” said the 57-year-old as he and his daughter Julie carefully folded the flag back into a tight triangle. He was also thinking of the people who are now dying in Ukraine fighting against the invading Russian army.

“All these troops came to liberate a country they did not know, for an ideology – democracy, freedom – that is now under severe strain,” he said.

For Warren Goss, a 99-year-old American D-Day veteran who landed in the first waves on Utah Beach, his sacrifice was reinforced many years later by a visit to the same spot where his comrades had fallen.

“I looked at the beach and it was beautiful, all the people, the children were playing and I saw the boys and girls walking, holding hands, back with their lives,” he told the Danish king and prime minister, who hung on his words.

The fairground atmosphere at the five beaches, codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword, was fuelled by World War II-era jeeps and trucks racing through the hedge-lined lanes that were so deadly to Allied troops battling dug-in German defenders, and by actors re-enacting war on the sandy beaches where soldiers fell on D-Day.

But the real VIPs at the commemorations on the Normandy coast were the veterans who took part in the largest land, sea and air armada ever, which broke through Hitler’s defences in Western Europe and contributed to his downfall eleven months later.

“They really were the golden generation, these 17-, 18-year-old boys who did something so brave,” says James Baker, a 56-year-old from the Netherlands, looking back on Utah Beach.

Further up the coast, at Gold Beach, a military bagpiper played at the exact time British troops landed there 80 years ago.

Britain’s King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak were among those attending a ceremony to honour the troops who landed there and at Sword Beach, while Prince William and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were among others attending the ceremony for Canadian troops at Juno Beach.

In his speech, the King told the crowd that the world was fortunate that a generation had “not flinched” when called.

“Our commitment to remembering what they stood for and what they achieved for all of us must never waver,” he said.

In his speech in French, Charles also paid tribute to the “unimaginable number” of French civilians killed in the Battle of Normandy, as well as the courage and sacrifice of the French Resistance.

Among those who traveled to Normandy were women. They were among the millions who built bombers, tanks and other weapons there and played other important roles in World War II that were long overshadowed by the fighting achievements of men.

Wherever they go in a wheelchair or with a walking stick, they are celebrated. With their voices, veterans repeat their message, which they hope will last forever: Never forget.

“We didn’t do it for honors and awards. We did it to save our country,” said 98-year-old Anna Mae Krier, who worked as a riveter building B-17 and B-29 bombers. “Ultimately, we helped save the world.”