“The June 6th is a day without enda continuously renewed dawn. Faced with the return of war to our continentfaced with the questioning of everything for which (the heroes of the landing, ed.) fought, to those who would like to move borders or rewrite history, we must be worthy of those who fought here. To the Ukrainian people we say thank you, and promise: we will not give upwe are with you”.
The words with which the French president Emmanuel Macron concluded the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landing clearly indicate the thread along which the day of heads of state and government moved when they arrived on the beaches that saw the Allies decide the fate of the Second World War (here is the story ). A constantly moving thread between the past and a present made dark by the war unleashed by Putin’s Russia against Ukraine.
A thread also crossed by Joe Biden, the president of the United States: “It is simply unthinkable” to surrender to Russian aggression, he said, urging Western and NATO allies to rediscover the spirit of D-Day and work together at a time when, in his opinion, democracy is more threatened than ever since the end of the Second World War. «Never bow to dictatorships, surrendering to bullies is simply unthinkable. To do so would mean forgetting what happened on these hallowed shores.”
TO Omaha Beach ithe Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, visibly excited, he was greeted by an ovation, followed by very long applause, when he entered with his wife into the structure that welcomes the authorities, veterans and the public.
The Canadian was also present Justin Trudeau and our Head of State Sergio Mattarellatogether with heads of state from all over Europe.
In Colleville Macron had praised the “greatness of a people ready to die on land that is not theirs”. “These humble white graves” are “one of the most moving places in France,” Macron declared. «Here we feel history vibrate, the heroism of the dead and that of the living», he added. “They were all afraid, but they knew they were waging a just war.”
