[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12660-S12662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NATIONAL D-DAY MEMORIAL

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, on Tuesday, I was privileged to 
attend the dedication of the National D-Day memorial. Located in 
Bedford, VA, among the grandeur of the Blue Ridge Mountains, this 
memorial truly dignifies those who participated in the historic 
military operation of June 6, 1944.
  As many of my colleagues may recall, there had not been a national 
memorial honoring those who served in

[[Page S12661]]

the D-Day operation. Last year, I offered legislation to establish the 
National D-Day Memorial and, again, I thank my colleagues for 
supporting that legislation.
  Gov. George Allen of Virginia, Col. Robert Doughty, and Col. William 
McIntosh each spoke eloquently on the D-Day operation and the 
importance of the National D-Day Memorial. I am submitting the text of 
their remarks and the schedule of the ceremony for the Record.
  I invite my colleagues to review these remarks.
  The remarks follow:

 Groundbreaking for the National D-Day Memorial, Ten o'Clock, Tuesday, 
          November Eleventh, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Seven

       March Slav, Tchaikovsky--Jefferson Forest High School Band; 
     Forest, Virginia; David A. Heim, Director.
       Invocation--Rabbi Tom Gutherz, Agudath Sholom Synagogue, 
     Lynchburg, Virginia.
       Presentation of the Colors--US Marine Corps Color Guard, 
     Company B, 4th CEB; Roanoke, Virginia.
       The Star Spangled Banner--Harmony Choral Group, Liberty 
     High School; Bedford, Virginia; Terry P. Arnold, Director; 
     Jefferson Forest High School Band.
       Posting of the Colors--Color Guard.
       Preamble--COL William A. McIntosh, USA (Ret.), Director of 
     Education, National D-Day Memorial Foundation.
       Welcome--John R. Slaughter, Chairman, National D-Day 
     memorial Foundation.
       Greetings from Abroad--Josh Honan, President, D-Day 
     Association, Ireland.
       D-Day Then, Now, and Tomorrow--COL Robert A. Doughty, Head, 
     Department of History, US Military Academy.
       Congressional Salutations--Honorable Virgil H. Goode, Jr., 
     House of Representatives, Washington, DC, Honorable Bob 
     Goodlatte, House of Representatives, Washington, DC, 
     Honorable Charles S. Robb, The United States Senate, 
     Washington, DC, Honorable John Warner, The United States 
     Senate, Washington, DC.
       The Virginia Commonwealth's Welcome--The Honorable the 
     Governor of Virginia George Allen, Jr.
       Groundbreaking--Richard B. Burrow, Executive Director, 
     National D-Day Memorial Foundation.
       Retrieval and Retirement of the Colors--Color Guard.
       Benefiction--The Rev. J. Douglas Wigner, Jr., Rector, St. 
     Paul's Episcopal Church; Lynchburg, Virginia.
       The Stars and Stripes Forever, Sousa--Jefferson Forest High 
     School Band.

                          Statement of Purpose

                By Col. William A. McIntosh, USA (Ret.)

       The National D-Day Memorial Foundation's strength, both 
     institutionally and operationally, is closely tied to a 
     conscious and deliberate commitment to its mission, a 
     statement that bears repeating here: The purpose of the 
     National D-Day Memorial Foundation is to memorialize the 
     valor, fidelity,and sacrifices of the Allied Armed Forces on 
     D-Day, June 6, 1944. Its specific mission is to establish in 
     Bedford, Virginia, and maintain for the nation, a memorial 
     complex, consisting of a monument and education center, that 
     celebrates and preserves the legacy of D-Day. Its operational 
     objectives are to ensure the operation, integrity, and 
     security of the D-Day Memorial Complex; to sponsor innovative 
     commemorations, educational programs, projects, and exhibits, 
     that foster an awareness of D-Day's historical significance; 
     and to seek and provide educational opportunities that will 
     preserve, for present and future generations, the meaning and 
     lessons of D-Day.
       Our immediate focus, to which today's ceremony bears 
     witness, is on construction of a monument. And so it should 
     be. But, as the mission statement explicitly indicates, the 
     long-term focus of this enterprise is education. It is 
     through education--ultimately, only through education--that a 
     memorial sustains its meaning, to say nothing whatever of its 
     immediacy.
       The older generations know why they are here; those less 
     old feel they should be here but are perhaps less sure why; 
     most of the youngsters are here because someone brought or 
     compelled them. A few of those children will participate with 
     the assembled dignitaries in the actual groundbreaking. That 
     intergenerational participation, symbolic on one level, will 
     have been real enough by ceremony's end. And no one will 
     leave this place without knowing why this event has taken 
     place or, finally, why he or she came.
       In warranting the National D-Day Memorial to rise up 
     outside Washington--to take root on the same heartland soil 
     that once held seed that flowered on D-Day and came to 
     harvest in a liberated Europe--the Congress of the United 
     States acted with noteworthy courage and vision. It will, 
     through its ongoing educational and interpretative programs, 
     memorialize, for present and future generations, the valor, 
     fidelity, and sacrifices of the Allied Forces on D-Day. Such 
     is its national duty--and its particular privilege.

                          The Meaning of D-Day

                    (By Col. Robert A. Doughty, USA)

       During the twentieth century, American armed forces have 
     often used the generic term ``D-Day'' to indicate the date a 
     military operation would begin. By using the term D-Day 
     commanders and planners could orchestrate the logical, 
     sequential arrival of units and equipment. Planners could 
     anticipate, for example, on D+1 certain actions occurring or 
     specific units arriving. Using the term D-Day also permitted 
     military commanders to change the date of operations easily 
     without causing confusion or disrupting preparations. General 
     Dwight D. Eisenhower, for example, changed the date of the 
     landings in Normandy because of bad weather. Thus, American 
     planners in World War II often used the term D-Day to assist 
     in the planning and conduct of operations in the Pacific and 
     European theaters.
       After June 6, 1944, however, the term D-Day became 
     synonymous with the landings on the Normandy beaches and the 
     beginning of what President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the 
     ``mighty endeavor.'' The day marked the decisive coming to 
     grips with the Germans for which the Allies had been 
     preparing since the fall of France and the withdrawal of the 
     British from Dunkirk. D-Day marked a major step in winning a 
     victory over the Axis powers in Europe.
       Many years after the invasion General Omar N. Bradley, who 
     commanded the American First Army in the operation, said, 
     ``Even now it brings pain to recall what happened there on 
     June 6, 1944. I have returned many times to honor the valiant 
     men who died on that beach. They should never be forgotten. 
     Nor should those who lived to carry the day by the slimmest 
     of margins.'' Bradley noted that every man who set foot on 
     those beaches that day was a ``hero.'' He later wrote, 
     ``Freedom is not a gift, and . . . democracy can extract both 
     stern and unequal payment from those who share its bounty. 
     Freedom is neither achieved nor retained without sacrifice by 
     individuals, often in unequal measure.''
       A tragic part of that ``unequal measure'' was paid by the 
     people of Bedford, Virginia. On the morning of June 6, 1944, 
     D-Day, about sixty percent of A Company, 116th Regiment, 29th 
     Infantry Division, had come from Bedford. As part of the 
     first wave in the landings on Omaha Beach, A Company 
     confronted some of the strongest enemy resistance Allied 
     forces encountered that fateful day. In the short space of 
     only a few minutes, A Company lost 96% of its effective 
     strength. War always has been and always will be a terrible 
     thing, and it indeed was a terrible thing that morning for 
     the men of A Company, 116th Regiment.
       To me, the final meaning--and perhaps the most important 
     meaning--of D-Day comes from the memory of those men who died 
     on the Normandy beaches or who sacrificed their health and 
     their futures in those desperate moments. Gathered from 
     across America, these young men knew the price of liberty was 
     high and willingly risked their lives to defend freedom. 
     Their sacrifice ensured that the term D-Day will always be 
     associated with only one day, the day the Allies landed at 
     Normandy, and will always represent a noble cause, a 
     courageous effort, and a gallant commitment to the highest 
     ideals of this nation.
       Today, this memorial to D-Day commemorates the achievements 
     of June 6, 1944, but it also reminds us of the challenges of 
     defending liberty and the costs of remaining free. Let us 
     remember the importance of the landings on the coast of 
     France but let us never forget the young men who made that 
     operation a success, who charged forward despite fearful 
     losses. As the inscription in the Normandy memorial suggests, 
     let us always remember the glory of their spirit.
                                  ____


    Remarks by Governor George Allen at the National D-Day Memorial 
Groundbreaking in Future Memorial Site, Bedford, Virginia, November 11, 
                                  1997

       This certainly is an invigorating morning! It is good to 
     see United States Senators John Warner and Chuck Robb; 
     Representatives Bob Goodlatte and Virgil Goode; Members of 
     the General Assembly; Chairperson Lucille Boggess; Mayor 
     Michael Shelton; Josh Honan, President of the D-Day 
     Association of Ireland; John Slaughter, Chairman, and Members 
     of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation; Colonel Robert 
     Doughty; Colonel Smith; honored guests all; and most 
     especially veterans and their families. On behalf of the 
     people of Virginia, welcome!
       Your presence honors our Commonwealth. We are grateful to 
     have you here to help break ground for the National D-Day 
     Memorial in Bedford County, Virginia.
       This is an historically significant, commemorative occasion 
     for all Americans, indeed, for all freedom-loving people on 
     earth and in the heavens.
       Veteran's Day is a time for respectful reflection as we 
     honor and remember all those brave men and women of the 
     United States Armed Forces who have served us to secure and 
     protect our nation's interests, including our God-given 
     rights and freedoms, as well as those rights and freedoms for 
     our fellow human beings everywhere.
       From the cold, snow-covered fields at Valley Forge to the 
     hot, desert storms of the Persian Gulf and Kuwait, and even 
     today in Bosnia, Virginians and Americans have served nobly, 
     and with great distinction, whenever and wherever Duty's 
     clarion call has sounded.
       We salute all of our veterans and their families who have 
     stood against tyranny in

[[Page S12662]]

     defense of liberty in times of war and peace. And on this 
     Veteran's Day, we honor those especially courageous patriots 
     who--on that gray, windy and fateful morning on the coast of 
     Normandy--valiantly began the eradication from Europe of the 
     hateful plague of Nazism, fascism and totalitarian 
     dictatorship.
       It is highly appropriate that this National D-Day Memorial 
     should find its home here in Bedford, Virginia.
       As vividly described by Colonel Doughty, United States and 
     Allied soldiers stormed Omaha Beach at dawn June 6, 1944. And 
     brave men from Bedford County spearheaded the first wave in 
     one of the greatest military feats in the annals of world 
     history.
       Virginia remembers with pride the noble legacy of the 29th 
     Division, especially the citizen-soldiers of the imperishable 
     ``Stonewall Brigade'' who waded, scrambled, fought and 
     overcame entrenched forces on high, formidable bluffs.
       While Time has washed away the blood of our fallen heroes 
     from the beaches and cliffs of Normandy, Time has not washed 
     away, and must not dim, our memories of those horrific and 
     heroic events--how they fought; how they died; and how they 
     won freedom for the people of Europe and the world.
       Whether by hard-fought victory or through steadfast 
     vigilance, each generation passes on to the next lessons: 
     lessons in the sometimes high price of freedom.
       This Memorial will be a thoughtful, magnificent tribute to 
     the Americans and Allies who began the liberation of the 
     European continent during that ``Longest Day.''
       Right here in Bedford, Virginia, people from around the 
     world can--and will--come to visit, learn and pay their 
     respects to heroes of unselfish character and undaunted 
     courage.
       This Memorial will add meaning to the strong, silent 
     testimony of those men who lost their own future in making 
     secure for others the responsibilities and opportunities that 
     come from freedom.
       By breaking ground for this National D-Day Memorial, each 
     of us is helping to ensure that the eternal flame of freedom 
     will never be extinguished by force from without or by 
     neglect from within.
       Through the hard work of so many, we are bequeathing to our 
     children a greater appreciation and respect for the many 
     blessings of liberty, and a better understanding of their 
     responsibility to nurture and protect it.
       In closing, I pray God will continue to bless Virginia and 
     the United States with people of such honor and character as 
     those we remember this Veteran's Day, so that our United 
     States will always be a beacon of hope, opportunity and 
     freedom.
       Veterans: we gratefully salute you in our minds and in our 
     hearts!

                          ____________________