World Leaders, WWII Veterans Gather in Normandy for 80th Anniversary of D-Day

Remembering D-Day 80 Years On

Transcript

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.

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