[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 87 (Thursday, June 5, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3465-S3466]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       70TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY

  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I wish to commemorate the 70th 
anniversary of the Normandy invasion by Allied Forces. On June 6, 1944, 
a date known ever since as D-day, a mighty armada crossed a narrow 
strip of sea from England to Normandy, France and broke the Nazi grip 
on Western Europe. The day before--June 5, 1944--a fleet of 3,000 
landing craft, 500 naval vessels, and 2,500 miscellaneous ships left 
English ports bound for Normandy, France. The amphibious landing was 
the largest effort ever in the history of mankind with the simultaneous 
landings of U.S., British, and Canadian forces on five separate 
beachheads in

[[Page S3466]]

Normandy. An additional 13,000 aircraft supported Allied Forces on D-
day.
  General Dwight D. Eisenhower--the Supreme Allied Commander in 
Europe--addressed the troops immediately prior to the invasion, saying:

       Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary 
     Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward 
     which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the 
     world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving 
     people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave 
     Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring 
     about the destruction of the German war machine, the 
     elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of 
     Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

  And by the end of August 1944, all of northern France was liberated 
and the invading forces were reorganized for the drive into Germany 
where they would eventually meet up with Soviet forces advancing from 
the east to bring an end to the Third Reich and its tyranny of terror.
  The aftermath of World War II saw much of Europe devastated in a way 
that is now difficult to imagine. Over 36 million Europeans died in the 
conflict; 19 million of them were civilians. Millions more were left 
homeless, the European economy had collapsed, and much of the European 
industrial infrastructure was destroyed.
  But from these ashes of war came the beginning of a new era for 
international cooperation and diplomacy. In the wake of World War II, 
the United Nations agreed to outlaw wars of aggression in an attempt to 
prevent a third world war. With the creation of the North Atlantic 
Treaty Organization, NATO, in 1949 and the institutionalization of the 
Helsinki Accords 25 years later, we committed ourselves to the work 
that began with the assault on those beachheads--Utah, Omaha, Juno, 
Sword, and Gold Beach--in June 1944.
  The guiding principles of the Helsinki Final Act are the foundations 
of lasting peace. These principles are worth enumerating: sovereign 
equality, respect for the rights inherent in sovereignty, refraining 
from threat or use of force, inviolability of frontiers, territorial 
integrity of States, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-intervention 
in internal affairs, respect for human rights, self determination of 
peoples, co-operation among States, and fulfillment in good faith of 
obligations under international law. Additionally, the Helsinki Final 
Act reaffirmed mankind's fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of 
thought, conscience, and religion or belief.
  Today, we remember the tremendous efforts of Allied Forces as they 
signaled to the world that unprovoked aggression and genocide have no 
place in our international order and will be met with our greatest 
resolve. I am reminded of the Maryland National Guard units who 
participated in the D-day landings. These brave Marylanders served with 
great distinction in the 29th Infantry Division, fighting their way 
across Western Europe and liberating France and Holland. The 29th 
Division suffered one of the highest casualty rates of any American 
division during World War II. We must honor those heroes by 
safeguarding all that they fought and sacrificed for.
  Today, there are one million surviving World War II veterans in the 
U.S., and 17,346 of them are Marylanders. These same heroes who landed 
on those beaches in Normandy and parachuted behind enemy lines 70 years 
ago are joined by veterans who have served in conflicts spanning from 
the Korean war to the war in Afghanistan. Today, I call on each of my 
colleagues to commit themselves to the work of meeting our obligations 
to all of these veterans. The best way to honor their sacrifices is to 
ensure that we are unwavering in our support for them and their 
families.

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