Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 James, we're already seeing some of that emotion coming out at the beginning of the British ceremony
00:06 and that's something that's going to be very much replicated during the day there,
00:09 those emotional moments very much at the forefront.
00:13 Yes, absolutely. What's interesting is to talk to the people who you see passing behind me.
00:19 These are some of the 12,000 people who are going to attend this ceremony,
00:23 4,000 of which are officials, high-ranking military officials from the United States and other officials,
00:31 but the 8,000 other people are simply people who signed up online to get a ticket.
00:35 Now, those 8,000 tickets were actually all taken within 48 hours,
00:40 which gives you an idea of people's commitment to these commemorations.
00:44 And a lot of people I've been speaking to have done a long journey from the United States to be here today.
00:50 I spoke to people from Texas, from Utah. I've spoken to people from Washington, D.C. as well.
00:56 I've talked to, for example, a couple of Army veterans.
01:01 He had fought in the war in Vietnam.
01:06 She had also fought in American conflicts.
01:10 And they were saying, well, they'd come here to celebrate their 25th anniversary.
01:15 And she told me that her great-grand—sorry, her great-granduncle had fought here in the Battle of Normandy.
01:24 Also spoke to a soldier, a U.S. soldier who'd been selected out of his 500 comrades to be here today to attend the ceremony.
01:32 He actually told me that this was something he had asked for as a specific perk, if you will,
01:38 when he signed on for an extra 20 months for a mission in the Middle East.
01:43 That he was telling me that this was very important for him, that his great-grandfather had taken part in the fighting here.
01:49 He was actually one of the third-line soldiers to land here on Utah Beach, that he'd survived it.
01:57 That, of course, all this had irrigated his family tree and history.
02:02 Basically, everyone telling me that, you know, this place—and it is, it's a very impressive testimony to the sacrifice that has been made here.
02:11 One lady, Patty, telling me that, you know, it's important to remind everyone, especially at a time like this, that freedom is not free.
02:19 And she as well has traveled from the United States, saying that for her she felt that, you know,
02:24 not enough was being done in American schools to remind everyone of the sacrifice that was made here
02:29 and of the role that the United States played in liberating Western Europe and France and indeed Normandy.
02:36 So, yes, a lot of emotion here. And just on a finishing note, we just saw Marine One, you know,
02:42 which is the presidential helicopter take off right behind where we are standing.
02:48 So that means that Joe Biden is probably not, you know, will be here soon.
02:52 As you know, the ceremony here, the American ceremony starts at 12.30, for the time being, of course, the spotlight is on that British ceremony.
02:59 One man here telling me that, of course, you know, this is the 80th anniversary.
03:05 And that it is, as he put it, he said, you know, this is the last time.
03:08 That's what he said. This is why it's so emotional. The last time or at least the last, you know,
03:13 10th anniversary where we'll have this many veterans.
03:17 They're saying that 167 of them have traveled from the UK.
03:20 And yes, of course, got to remember that these these men and women who served, who were here,
03:26 who played this incredibly important role in history. Well, the last witnesses of that time are here.
03:32 They're in the late 90s, early 100s. And of course, disappearing the numbers of dwindling.