Biden tells world to ‘do duty’ and support Ukraine on D-Day anniversary

Biden tells world to ‘do duty’ and support Ukraine on D-Day anniversary

Dawn at Gold Beach arage and the scene is already frantic with activity and bathed in the warm glow of nostalgia the 80th anniversary of the Normandy Landings has for many here all Woolen shirts and webbing particular residents I’m here with my son uh we’re here to um in honor of our uncle who landed on this beach your thoughts when you look out over the channel this morning and imagine teary very very emotional uh lump in the throat time um just thinking about um the waste of life really and what they gave their lives for the day came cloaked in symbolism from the Royal Marines of 47 Commando emerging further along Gold Beach just as their predecessors had done so 80 years earlier to American troop reenactments on Utah Beach thousands looked on keep going I will hold back at ver Su s Tom Jones sang before a backdrop of more than 22,000 names those who died under British command on dday and the Battle of Normandy we are here today to remember the sacrifice of the tens of thousands who did not make it home and we are here to honor the service of those who did we will remember them one of the few veterans present ler wreath local school children handed them roses earlier they heard the king speak of the imperative for free Nations to stand together to oppos tyranny among the names inscribed on the walls and pillars of this Memorial are men and women from more than 30 different nations our gratitude is unfailing and our admiration Eternal as the French President left the British ceremony with a wink to the king the flaunting of long-standing alliances looked almost cinematic as he next joined the American president M Robert here American veterans received France’s highest honor their vast losses on The Killing Zone of Omaha Beach so memorably depicted by the actor Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg history tells us freedom is not free Biden with one eye on his own political battles warned against isolationism and issued yet another rallying cry on Europe’s latest War Ukraine has been invaded by a tyrant we will not walk away the price of unchecked Tyran is the blood of The Young and the brave in their generation in their hour of trial the Allied Forces of D-Day did their Duty now the question for us is in our hour of trial will we do ours and it was Ukraine’s president today who walked into the international ceremony to widespread Applause and this reception from a vet Ukrainian prime minister is busy fighting right now you oh you’re the savior of the people among the world leaders know Vladimir Putin one more glaring reminder of how that old Alliance so fated today and in which Russia was once so pivotal Now lies buried ever deeper in the battlefields of Ukraine the labor leader sakir stama met the Ukrainian president Rishi sunak by now had left seemingly a Tory Source reportedly played down the Diplomatic impact of his absence pointing out the Prime Minister will meet G7 leaders next week in our raage this evening the veterans had the town thronging the streets a final chance perhaps to see the last of the liberators to thank them again what’s it been like meeting all of the people that’s wonderful isn’t it sorry now it brings memories back at us you know it’s a trouble it does but this has been great people have been great here there very great of all the commemorations you’ve been to how would you rank this one the [Music] best it has been a week Rich in reflection tonight the goodbyes looked as joyous as the liberating Hells which we can only imagine and only they perhaps can recall smiling savoring this moment in the streets of Normandy 80 years on the last of the D-Day veterans well joining me now from Manchester is warhorse author Sir Michael morgo whose new book Finding Alfie a D-Day story was written to Mark today’s 80th anniversary so Michael a really poignant reminder of the past there but unmistakable parallels with the present with war returning to Europe once again yes sadly sadly I never thought to see it in my lifetime I me a war baby born in 43 so I grew up with a shadow of that war all Army not knowing much about it to start with but gradually gradually beginning to understand what war does to flesh what it does to families what it does to buildings and then coming to the conclusion eventually in my life that um Peace is the answer and so I write about war because it affected me deeply um I was affect did I lost a an uncle and actually it’s not the right thing to say I never knew an uncle my uncle Peter was killed aged 21 in the in the RAF um and I saw in the family the the hurt and the loss that that went on all their lives my mother would always weep on his birthday and on 11th of November it was a it was a huge thing in those post early post-war years as one saw the evidence of of what had happened and now yes we look at our televisions and we see the rubble we see the misery and you think well where where has it all gone wrong and and you had a veteran there in Andy Davis’s piece saying what they gave their lives for remembering that but as the world is once again engulfed by War what did they give their lives for 80 years ago well I suppose they and I’ve had a life until very recently which has been peaceful we sort of all have yes we’ve had difficulties and unpleasantness is and all the rest of it but we have lived by and large in peace well that was a a peace that was given to us by these people it didn’t happen by accident they had to get rid of tyranny and fascism before we could live that life so they gave us that now what have we done with it that’s the interesting thing what have other countries done with it and yes we seem to be falling into the same traps um of um tyrannical regimes rising up and then threatening others don’t seem to have learned and maybe that’s I don’t know maybe there’s something in humanity that doesn’t seem to be able to learn the big lessons um and I find that sometimes found really depressing but I mustn’t be depressed because there is hope well I’ll come back to that it is there hope but I wonder you know you meet a lot of children you write books for children your latest book of finding Alfie was written with the aim of keeping the memory of D-Day alive for younger Generations I wonder what you think those who made the ultimate sacrifice 80 years ago would they be proud of today’s younger generation do you think oh yes I don’t I don’t doubt that at all I I really am convinced that uh they were very much like our children when they were children and they grew up and they had to face what they faced and I think our children would do the same um their society was by no means ideal ours isn’t but I think they’ve had enough of an education and they they they have have have had more insights into the world around them than that generation had and I think one mustn’t ever think that these children don’t have the potential to grow into whatever it is that they they have to do I mean they they read books and books are critical going to the theater all they they have leared about empathy and knowledge and understanding and that that’s going to be the way forward it will you have to have faith in that otherwise you might as well give up and shrug your shoulders walk off well and so to Hope then because you know the king said we wouldn’t Flinch if we were asked if we were challenged again we had to meet that test but would is there hope briefly yes I think there is hope I mean I went once to a school in in uh uh Israel where Arabs and Jews children went to school together and I made kites of peace with them it was the one school in Israel where this happened but it starts with these small seeds of peace and there there are examples think of Northern Ireland Northern Ireland has been an example 30 years ago 40 years ago no one ever thought that could be sorted and it’s I don’t say it’s totally sorted but you have to have hope and it’s hope that did that and and good people so Michael well that’s a very good note on which to end thank you very much for joining us

President Biden compared Ukraine’s battle against Russian tyranny to the fight for freedom on D-Day, at a special event in Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary.

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Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy joined other world leaders, as they paid tribute to the allied troops who stormed the Normandy beaches in June 1944, beginning the campaign to liberate north western Europe from German occupation.

It was to prove a turning point in the battle against Hitler’s Nazis. From Normandy, our correspondent Andy Davies reports.

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