"You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief. It was loyalty and love.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you."
From remarks delivered by President Ronald Reagan on June 6, 1984 commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy,with a H/T to Real Clear Politics for posting the entire speech today
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/06/06/the_boys_of_pointe_du_hoc_140500.html
Two lines from Stephen Spender's poem, I Think Continually, were quoted in the speech, with both from this verse of the poem:
Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields
See how these names are feted by the waving grass
And by the streamers of white cloud
And whispers of wind in the listening sky.
The names of those who in their lives fought for life
Who wore at their hearts the fire's centre.
Born of the sun they travelled a short while towards the sun,
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.
2 comments:
The rocket-propelled grappling hooks used by the Rangers were considered a secret weapon. It took the 5th Rangers and the rest of the 2nd several days to relive the men at the Pointe.
I always want people to remember the triumph of 2 other Ranger outfits a couple of days before. The First Special Service Force (no, they were never a Special Forces outfit) scouted the route into Rome, the first enemy capital to fall to the Allies. They completed the job of Darby's Rangers who were led into a German ambush at Anzio by the incompetent leadership of the US 3rd Division commander and destroyed.
They were true heroes.
Unfortunately, they have been betrayed by the current leadership of the United States Armed forces.
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