[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 94 (Wednesday, June 5, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3246-S3247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       75TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, later today, I will be leaving with many 
other Senators on an official trip to Normandy, France, to celebrate 
the 75th anniversary of the D-day invasion, also known as Operation 
Overlord. I consider it a high honor to be part of a congressional 
delegation commemorating one of the most important days in the history 
of human civilization. It is especially important to make this trip at 
a time when relations with our traditional trans-Atlantic allies are 
under undue and unnecessary stress.
  On June 6, 1944, the largest single amphibious assault in history 
crossed the English Channel and stormed the beaches of Normandy, code-
named ``Utah,'' ``Omaha,'' ``Gold,'' ``Juno,'' and ``Sword,'' names 
that will be forever associated with acts of uncommon valor and self-
sacrifice in defense of human freedom and dignity. The Allied armada 
involved over 156,000 U.S., British, and Canadian troops traveling 
aboard almost 7,000 naval ships and landing vessels.
  Even before the amphibious assault, in the darkened skies of that 
early morning, 13,100 American paratroopers of the 82nd and 10lst 
Airborne Divisions made parachute drops near Carentan from over 2,000 
Allied aircraft, followed by 3,937 troops flown in by day on 867 
gliders as the opening maneuver of Operation Neptune, the assault 
operation for Overlord.
  Three of the six Allied divisions involved in D-day were American, 
including the 29th Infantry Division. The 29th Infantry Division was 
activated on February 3, 1941, and based at Fort Meade, MD. It 
consisted of soldiers from Maryland and Virginia. In September 1942, 
the 29th deployed to England, where it made final preparations for the 
D-day invasion.
  Operation Overlord called for Allied troops to storm ashore five 
landing areas along the 50-mile stretch of Normandy's shore. U.S. 
forces were responsible for taking Utah and Omaha. Securing Omaha was 
critical to the Allies' success and would be the site of the heaviest 
German resistance. The 29th and the 1st Infantry Division were 
responsible for taking Omaha. Nearly 10,000 men of the 29th formed the 
first assault wave on Omaha. At approximately 6:30 in the morning on 
June 6th, Allied forces encountered stormy seas, a low tide, reinforced 
obstacles, and a force of 50,000 German troops awaiting them on 
Normandy's 50-mile shoreline.
  George ``Billy'' Forbes, Jr., of Bryantown, MD, was a radio operator 
in the 29th Infantry Division. Mr. Forbes described his feelings before 
the D-day invasion as ``very anxious and very scared.'' He said that 
even though he did not know what to expect, he had a job to do, and he 
was going to do it to the best of his ability.
  Lester Lease of Cumberland, MD, was only 16 years old when he lied 
about his age to join the Army. He was a sergeant in the 29th when he 
landed at Omaha Beach. Mr. Lease stressed the difficulty of the 
amphibious assault. The ``Higgins boats'' could not get close enough to 
shore for the soldiers to get off on the land, so they had to swim 
through deep water before they could wade or crawl ashore. Many of

[[Page S3247]]

them perished in the onslaught of withering German machine gun and 
artillery fire before they even made it to shore. Those who did make it 
to the beaches encountered thick shell smoke that obstructed their 
visibility, and they heard the cries for help from their fellow 
soldiers lying wounded nearby as German machine gun fire relentlessly 
rained down on them.
  Charles ``Harry'' Heinlein, a 22-year-old Army private from 
Baltimore, MD, described the scene as total confusion, recalling, ``It 
seemed like hours to get off the beach. At this point, the only orders 
being yelled to those still able to fight was, `Get off the beach! Get 
off the beach!' ''
  William Bladen of College Park, MD, was a 19-year-old paratrooper in 
the 82nd Airborne Division. In the dark, early hours of that morning, 
Private First Class Bladen parachuted into Normandy with two 20-pound 
satchels of TNT attached to him and unable to see where he would land. 
Mr. Bladen said, ``War is hell--in fact, it's worse than hell.'' But he 
had a mission and he did it.
  Joe Heinlein of Parkville, MD, provided context to the American 
casualties suffered. He pointed out that before D-day, Bravo Company, 
175th Regiment, of the 29th Infantry Division, had about 200 men; by 
June 19 about a dozen men remained. Mr. Bladen added, ``I hope people 
remember that a lot of men gave their lives for others.''
  Freedom is not free. The Normandy American Cemetery serves as the 
final resting place for 9,380 American military dead, most of whom lost 
their lives in the D-day landings. On the Walls of the Missing are 
inscribed another 1,557 names of soldiers whose remains were never 
recovered or identified. We must never forget those who, in Abraham 
Lincoln's immortal words, ``have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the 
altar of freedom.'' The Americans who died on the beaches and in the 
fields of Normandy made the ultimate sacrifice, but they did not die in 
vain. They helped to defeat fascism, totalitarianism, and the Nazi 
regime. They helped to liberate Europe and the concentration camps. In 
GEN Dwight Eisenhower's D-day address, he declared to Allied troops, 
``The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-
loving people everywhere march with you . . . The free men of the world 
are marching together to victory.
  We remember and we honor the intrepid heroes of the 29th Infantry 
Division and all the other members of the ``Greatest generation'' who 
marched together into battle and demonstrated remarkable acts of valor 
and sacrifice 75 years ago tomorrow.
  As the poet Archibald MacLeish wrote, ``There are those who will say 
that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind is nothing 
but a dream. They are right. It is the American Dream.'' But it is a 
dream that we Americans share with all people who cherish freedom and 
human dignity now, just as we did on June 6th, 1944.

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