Remembering D-Day 80 Years On
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00:00 French, British and U.S. Air Force planes take to the skies over Normandy to mark the
00:06 80th anniversary of D-Day.
00:09 Twenty heads of state, including U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz,
00:14 joined French President Emmanuel Macron for the ceremony, which saw a standing ovation
00:19 for a special guest, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
00:24 French's invasion of Ukraine was the largest attack on a European country since World War
00:30 II, and the war has been raging for over two years.
00:34 In his speech, Macron reiterated that France and its allies stand with Ukraine.
00:39 "Let us be worthy of those who landed here.
00:46 Your presence here today, Mr. President of Ukraine, says it all."
00:54 No Russian official was invited to the ceremony, despite the Soviet Union's decisive role in
00:59 the Nazis' final defeat.
01:02 Eight decades ago, over 150,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, opening a
01:08 vital new front in the war to liberate Western Europe from Nazi rule.
01:13 It remains the largest amphibious invasion in history.
01:17 Around 180 surviving veterans, many of them over 100 years old, gaze over the shores once
01:23 more.
01:24 "We are so glad that we won and were able to have peace for the rest of our lives.
01:36 We knew on D-Day that we were making history."
01:43 U.S. President Biden joined Macron to honor veterans at the event.
01:48 But in his speech, he also warned that the struggle between dictatorship and freedom
01:53 is unending.
01:54 "We know the dark forces that these heroes fought against 80 years ago.
02:00 They never fade.
02:03 Aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and control, to change borders by force, these
02:10 are perennial."
02:12 In the face of Moscow's continued offensive in Ukraine and geopolitical instability across
02:18 regions, Biden and other leaders urged the world to remember the unity that turned the
02:23 tide on D-Day, and that in the face of tyranny, free nations must stand together.
02:29 Devon Cai and Joyce Chen for Taiwan Plus.
02:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]