---------------------------------------------------------------- The Navy Public Affairs Library (NAVPALIB) A service of the Navy Office of Information, Washington DC Send feedback/questions to navpalib@opnav-emh.navy.mil ---------------------------------------------------------------- Remarks by Admiral Henry G. Chiles, Jr. Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Strategic Command 50th Anniversary of D-Day Commemoration Heartland of America Park, Omaha, NE 6 June 94 THANK YOU... IT'S A GREAT PRIVILEGE ON THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY TO JOIN THESE HEROES OF NORMANDY... AND THE MANY OTHER VETERANS HERE TONIGHT WHO HAVE HELPED DEFEND OUR NATION AND PRESERVE OUR FREEDOM. THE INVASION WAS A MONUMENTAL EVENT. THE LANDING OF OUR TROOPS CONCLUSIVELY AND DRAMATICALLY MARKED THE TURN OF THE WAR AGAINST HITLER. WITH THE ALLIES ASHORE IN FRANCE AND THE PRESSURE FROM RUSSIA, HITLER'S FATE WAS SEALED. NORMANDY WAS A GIANT STEP TOWARD LIBERATION OF WESTERN EUROPE. BUT GETTING OUR SOLDIERS ASHORE WAS EXCEEDINGLY HARD. 130,000 SOLDIERS WERE BROUGHT TO THE BEACHES BY OVER 4,000 SHIPS. 20,000 MORE SOLDIERS WERE DELIVERED BEHIND THE GERMAN LINES BY PARACHUTES AND GLIDERS. THIRTEEN HUNDRED PLANES IN ALL. 13,000 ALLIED PLANES HAD CLEANED THE GERMAN LUFTWAFFE FROM THE SKY AND BOMBED GERMAN POSITIONS. DESTROYERS POURED IN FIRE FROM THE SEA. NOWHERE WAS IT HARDER THAN AT A BEACH CALLED OMAHA... 4,500 MILES FROM THIS SPOT. THE ARMY RANGERS AND REGIMENTS OF THE 1ST AND 29TH INFANTRY DIVISIONS WHO LANDED ON OMAHA BEACH MET A HORRIBLE CURTAIN OF GUNFIRE FROM GERMANS ON TOP OF BLUFFS 170 FEET ABOVE THEM. OBSTACLES STOPPED THEM AT THE WATERS EDGE. ALLIED CASUALTIES SOARED. LT GEN. OMAR BRADLEY, U.S. FIRST ARMY COMMANDER, CONSIDERED PULLING BACK OFF THE BEACHES. BUT IN THOSE DARK HOURS, BRAVERY PREVAILED. ONE LEADER SCREAMED TO HIS TROOPS THAT TWO TYPES OF MEN WOULD STAY ON THE BEACH THAT DAY... THE DEAD AND THOSE WHO WERE GOING TO DIE... SO THEY BETTER "GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE"... AND THEY DID. BY NIGHTFALL, THE ENEMY HAD BEEN DRIVEN INLAND AND THE ALLIES HAD A TOEHOLD ON THE NORMANDY COAST. THE FIRST STEPS HAD BEEN TAKEN ON THE FINAL ROAD TO BERLIN. OF THE 6,600 TROOPS WHO FELL ON THAT SIXTH OF JUNE, 1944, NINETY OF THEM WERE FROM NEBRASKA. 139,754 NEBRASKANS WENT TO THAT WAR... 3,839 NEVER RETURNED. TONIGHT WE PAY SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO THOSE WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES AT NORMANDY SO THAT THEIR FRIENDS MIGHT MAKE IT SAFELY UP THOSE BEACHES AND WE MIGHT LIVE IN FREEDOM TODAY. WE REMEMBER THEIR VALOR, THEIR PATRIOTISM, THEIR SELFLESS DEVOTION TO DUTY. AND WE SHOULD REMEMBER THE INSCRIPTION ON THE STONE MEMORIAL AT THE OMAHA BEACH CEMETERY, WHICH SIMPLY STATES: "TO THESE WE OWE THE HIGHEST RESOLVE, THAT THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY DIED, SHALL LIVE." GOD BLESS THESE DEPARTED AMERICANS AND GOD BLESS OUR VETERANS OF NORMANDY, WORLD WAR II AND OTHER CAMPAIGNS -- HEROES WHO HAVE COME TO THE DEFENSE OF OUR FREEDOMS WHEREVER THREATENED. WHILE WE ENJOY THE MUSICAL TRIBUTE OF LT COL CRAIG JESSOP AND THE AIR COMBAT COMMAND HEARTLAND OF AMERICA BAND IN THEIR WORLD WAR II UNIFORMS, MAY OUR THOUGHTS BE: "FOR THOSE HEROES OF 50 YEARS AGO AND FOR TODAY... AMERICA STRONG IN DEMOCRACY, IN PEACE AND IN FREEDOM... SO WE DON'T HAVE TO BE STRONG IN WAR AND CONFLICT." THANK YOU... (END REMARKS) -USN-