07 June 2024 Punjab Khabarnama : Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden, U.S. first lady Jill Biden, Brigitte Macron, Britain’s Prince William, the Prince of Wales, Australia’s Governor-General David Hurley, Linda Hurley and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg attend the international ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings and the liberation of western Europe from Nazi Germany occupation, at Omaha Beach in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, Normandy region
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday warned on the 80th anniversary of D-Day that democracy around the world was at risk, as leaders marked the 1944 landings in occupied France that helped defeat Nazi Germany in World War II.
Mr. Biden, Britain’s King Charles III, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the tens of thousands of Allied troops who stormed the beaches of Normandy in northern France on June 6, 1944.
An honoured additional guest was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a stark reminder of the war being waged for over two years in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
e 6, 2024. | Photo Credit: Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday warned on the 80th anniversary of D-Day that democracy around the world was at risk, as leaders marked the 1944 landings in occupied France that helped defeat Nazi Germany in World War II.
Mr. Biden, Britain’s King Charles III, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the tens of thousands of Allied troops who stormed the beaches of Normandy in northern France on June 6, 1944.
Mr. Biden vowed never to abandon international alliances or Ukraine in its fight against Russia, a pointed swipe at his election rival ex-president Donald Trump who has publicly questioned the importance of organisations such as NATO.
“We’re living in a time when democracy is more at risk across the world than at any point since the end of World War II,” Mr. Biden said. “Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago and is not the answer today.”
“Real alliances make us stronger — a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget.”
‘Will not end there’
Mr. Biden also vowed that, under his leadership, the United States “will not walk away” from Ukraine because the country “will be subjugated and it will not end there”.
“Ukraine’s neighbours will be threatened, all of Europe will be threatened,” he added, describing Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “tyrant bent on domination”.
To surrender to bullies or “bow down to dictators” is “simply unthinkable”, he said.
“Free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny,” he said. “Let us pray such sacrifice need never be made again.”
‘Can never diminish’
King Charles, noting the dwindling numbers of veterans from the conflict, said: “Our obligation to remember them, what they stood for and what they achieved for us all can never diminish.”
Two veterans were unable to make it to France.
William Cameron, a 100-year-old Canadian, had packed his bags weeks in advance but died just before he was to return to France, while 102-year-old Robert Persichitti from the United States died on a ship en route to the ceremony.
Film director Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks also attended the ceremonies, present in acknowledgement of their classic 1998 film “Saving Private Ryan”, set just after the Normandy landingsI.
During a meeting with foreign news outlets in Saint Petersburg late Wednesday, Mr. Putin shrugged off the lack of an invitation for Russia, saying “let them celebrate without us”.