Military Cemetery in Normandy ‘a symbolic place for American presidents’ • FRANCE 24 English
uh Kean let me bring you in because uh the Americans have informed you that they’re running behind schedule uh by a few minutes talk us through uh this actual Franco the the ceremony today it’s taking place at the American cemetery the territory itself is in French yes the the French actually dedicated that land the 172 acres of land to the Americans so the French are still have property over the land but they dedicated it to the Americans in 1956 uh there were already some people buried there and they made that pretty much official and that’s when it became known as the US Cemetery at kille Sur and that is why uh this is presented as the President of the United States Joe Biden welcoming the president of France so it is a us uh ceremony and uh it was uh Jimmy Carter who was actually uh the first US president to actually visit this us Cemetery uh at kville uh and uh has to be said and you mentioned a nearly uh 9,400 9,388 to be precise Graves uh of soldiers it’s actually 9,387 and then there was one other soldier that was buried there uh just about 10 years ago uh there are some uh famous people if you were who are buried in that Cemetery including of course theer Rosevelt Jr the son of uh president Rosevelt he is buried there as well as the Nyland Brothers now that name may not sound familiar to most of our viewers Preston and Robert Nyland they’re actually the brothers that inspired the story behind the Steven Spielberg movie Saving Private Ryan that whole story was based around these two brothers but they’re not the only Brothers they’re about 45 sets of brothers that are buried at that Cemetery uh together so it is a very symbolic uh place for American president and since Jimmy Carter this has really become a sort of tradition for American presidents when there are these big celebrations whether it’s the 70th 75th 80th they always uh make a point to uh have that ceremony at the US cemetery and Kean we’re going to have the US President Joe Biden who will be speaking today he’s due to make a big speech uh tomorrow his goal really will be to uh reassure America’s allies that America’s not going away but it’s a little tough to do when there’s an election around the corner and uh the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump well we we we don’t know what way he stands on many issues absolutely the this day of course is a day of commemorations of what happened in the past but the present is obviously looming very large uh the present of the war in Europe and the present of that US presidential campaign uh that is really gearing up towards its final stretch we’re 5 months away from the election and part of uh what Joe Biden will be doing even though he’s going to be paying tribute uh to the soldier who gave their lives to fight for Freedom uh he’s going to put that in perspective with what is happening today and it really fits the message that he’s been repeating ever since he was elected uh to uh the white house he has been talking about this battle vers uh between democracies and autocracies this fight for Freedom the fact that the world is at an inflection point and there is no better stage than Normandy for that message to be heard and of course that speech that he’s going to be given uh tomorrow is at the point and 40 years ago uh it was Ronald Reagan who uh gave a speech at that same exact place talking about exactly the same uh topics at the time it was the battle versus the Soviet Union at this time it is a battle in a way against Russia facing the Russian uh invasion of Ukraine but also the battle for those around the world that are wanting to break those transatlantic ties all of the things that those soldiers he is likely to say sacrif fought for and many of them sacrificed for and there was a line also that by uh Emanuel macron uh yesterday during uh some of the ceremonies talking about the fact that uh many of these people sacrificed made the ultimate sacrifice for us today to have the freedom that we have
France 24’s international affairs editor Kethevane Gorjestani takes a look at the symbolic and historical significance of the American Military Cemetery in Normandy for the US, where the 80th commemorations of the D-Day landings are taking place.
#DDay #WWII #commemorations
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1 comment
It's certainly more agreeable to have a commander-in-chief who honors fallen soldiers instead of disparaging them with terms like "losers" and "suckers," especially when such comments come from someone who avoided the draft.