As we commemorate and memorialize the 80th anniversary of Operation Neptune on the beaches of Normandy, France, it is so important to recognize and remember that this was one of the greatest military operations in the history of history.
It was a military operation aimed to preserve freedom and democracy for America and for our allies around the world.
The Allied war effort was led by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was the overall commander, assisted by British Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery and, of course, the American and British soldiers were supported by the Aussies, the Kiwis, the Canadians, the Free French, and other freedom fighters in Europe.
The bravery and sacrifice of the men who fought on that day and later is almost beyond words. They made the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of freedom. What happened on D-Day must never, ever be forgotten. President Ronald Reagan's 1984 speech on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, entitled "The Boys of Pointe du Hoc," was a timeless tribute to America's D-Day heroes, and indeed to all the heroes of all the countries that participated in that remarkable military effort to literally save freedom and save the world.
It was one of Reagan's greatest speeches, befitting one of America's greatest presidents. Reagan's speech to "The Boys of Pointe du Hoc" was a timeless tribute, and that is why we are excerpting it at some length in today's show.
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FORMER PRESIDENT REAGAN: We’re here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow.
Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy, the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.
We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs.
Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here, and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance. The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers — the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades, and the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing.
Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms. Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs, and before me are the men who put them there. These are the Boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war."
It was an operation aimed at destroying Nazism, the horrors of the Jewish Holocaust, and obliterating dictator Adolf Hitler and his fascist friend Benito Mussolini. Every person involved in that invasion — including, of course, the Army Rangers climbing the steep cliffs of Normandy in order to take out the biggest German artillery stations — is a hero.
What the Rangers did was almost unimaginable, but as the excellent New York Post editorial today points out, and I will quote: "… it was the grunts that carried victory home, pushing onto the beaches and up the cliffs as thousands of their comrades fell." Here's President Reagan on what these brave heroes fought for.
REAGAN: Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. 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.
My old friend Tom Brokaw called them the Greatest Generation, and the opening scene of "Saving Private Ryan" at least begins to capture the sacrifice and horrors of the beach invasion.
It is now 40 years since Reagan's historic speech. Some of the men of Normandy are still alive. God bless them, but as the Gipper said, "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." Let's heed the Gipper's words.
REAGAN: Here in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for.
We must also remember Reagan's words: "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."
For those souls who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve freedom and to save America, we should all say a prayer. Those heroes gave us a lesson in courage and valor that must never be forgotten. As Reagan also once said: "If not us, who? If not now, when?"
Let me just finish with this short but beautiful line from one of our greatest presidents.
REAGAN: Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their valor, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died. Thank you very much and God bless you all.
God bless the Boys of Pointe du Hoc.
This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the June 6, 2024, edition of "Kudlow."
