 Tens of thousands of liberated Europeans turned out to say farewell. And they pledged to take care of the more than 60,000 Americans who would remain in cemeteries on this continent. In the words of one man, we will take care of the fallen as if their tombs were our children's. And the people of France, you have kept your word, like the true friends you are. We are forever grateful. Thousands of paratroopers had dropped into the wrong landing sites. Thousands of rounds bit into flesh and sand. Entire companies, worth of men, fell in minutes. Hell's Beach had earned its name. By 8.30 a.m., General Omar Bradley expected our troops to be a mile inland. Six hours after the landings, he wrote, we held only 10 yards of beach. In this age of instant commentary, the invasion would have swiftly and roundly been declared as it was by one officer a debacle. But such a race to judgment would not have taken into account the courage of free men. Troops who finally made it to the seawall used it as shelter, were a general barked, if you're rangers, lead the way. By the end of that longest day, this beach had been fought, lost, re-fought, and won. A piece of Europe, once again, liberated and free. Hitler's Wall was breached, letting loose Patton's Army to pour into France. We come to remember why America and our allies gave so much for the survival of liberty at this moment of maximum peril. We come to tell the story of the men and women who did it so that it remains seared into the memory of a future world. We tell this story for the old soldiers who pulled themselves a little straighter today to salute brothers who never made it home. We tell the story for the daughter who clutches a faded photo of her father for our very young, for the child who runs his fingers over colorful ribbons. He knows signify something of great consequence, even if he doesn't yet fully understand why. Then the sight of wave after wave after wave of young men boarding those boats to liberate people they had never met. We say it now as if it couldn't be any other way. But in the annals of history, the world had never seen anything like it. And when the war was won, we claimed no spoils of victory. We helped Europe rebuild. We claimed no land other than the Earth where we buried those who gave their lives under our flag, and where we stationed those who still serve under it. But America's claim, our commitment to liberty, our claim to equality, our claim to freedom, and to the inherent dignity of every human being, that claim is written in the blood on these beaches. And it will endure for eternity. We are on this Earth for only a moment in time. And few of us have parents and grandparents to tell us about what the veterans of D-Day did here 70 years ago. As I was landing on Marine One, I told my staff, I don't think there's a time where I miss my grandfather more, where I'd be more happy to have him here than this day. So we have to tell their stories for them. We have to do our best to uphold in our own lives the values that they were prepared to die for. We have to honor those who carry forward that legacy, recognizing that people cannot live in freedom unless free people are prepared to die for it. And as today's wars come to an end, this generation of servicemen and women will step out of uniform and they too will build families and lives of their own. They too will become leaders in their communities and commerce and industry and perhaps politics, the leaders we need for the beachheads of our time. And God willing, they too will grow old in the land they help to keep free. And someday future generations, whether 70 or 700 years hence, will gather at places like this to honor them and to say that these were generations of men and women who proved once again that the United States of America is and will remain the greatest force for freedom the world has ever known. May God bless our veterans and all who serve with them, including those who rest here in eternal peace. And may God bless all who serve today for the peace and security of the world. May God bless the people of France. And may God bless our United States of America.