Military Cemetery in Normandy 'a symbolic place for American presidents'
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00:00Ketavan, let me bring you in because the Americans have informed you that they're running behind
00:04schedule by a few minutes.
00:06Talk us through this actual the ceremony today.
00:10It's taking place at the American Cemetery.
00:12The territory itself is in French.
00:14Yes, the French actually dedicated that land, the 172 acres of land, to the Americans.
00:21So the French still have property over the land, but they dedicated it to the Americans
00:26in 1956.
00:28There were already some people buried there, and they made that pretty much official.
00:33And that's when it became known as the U.S. Cemetery at Colville-sur-Mer.
00:36And that is why this is presented as the president of the United States, Joe Biden, welcoming
00:42the president of France.
00:44So it is a U.S. ceremony, and it was Jimmy Carter who was actually the first U.S. president
00:54to actually visit this U.S. cemetery at Colville.
00:59And it has to be said, and you mentioned it, nearly 9,488, to be precise, graves of soldiers.
01:09It's actually 9,387.
01:12And then there was one other soldier that was buried there just about 10 years ago.
01:19There are some famous people, if you will, who are buried in that cemetery, including,
01:25of course, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the son of President Roosevelt.
01:31He is buried there, as well as the Nylund brothers.
01:34Now that name may not sound familiar to most of our viewers.
01:38Preston and Robert Nylund, they're actually the brothers that inspired the story behind
01:44the Steven Spielberg movie, Saving Private Ryan.
01:47That whole story was based around these two brothers, but they're not the only brothers.
01:51There are about 45 sets of brothers that are buried at that cemetery together.
01:56So it is a very symbolic place for American president.
02:01And since Jimmy Carter, this has really become a sort of tradition for American presidents.
02:07When there are these big celebrations, whether it's the 70th, 75th, 80th, they always make
02:12a point to have that ceremony at the U.S. cemetery.
02:16Ketivan, we're going to have the U.S. President Joe Biden, who will be speaking today.
02:20He's due to make a big speech tomorrow.
02:23His goal really will be to reassure America's allies that America is not going away.
02:29But it's a little tough to do when there's an election around the corner and the presumptive
02:33Republican nominee, Donald Trump, well, we don't know what way he stands on many issues.
02:38Absolutely.
02:39This day, of course, is a day of commemorations of what happened in the past, but the present
02:44is obviously looming very large.
02:46The present of the war in Europe and the present of that U.S. presidential campaign that is
02:53really gearing up towards its final stretch.
02:56We're five months away from the election.
02:58And part of what Joe Biden will be doing, even though he's going to be paying tribute
03:03to the soldier who gave their lives to fight for freedom, he's going to put that in perspective
03:10with what is happening today.
03:12It really fits the message that he's been repeating ever since he was elected to the
03:17White House.
03:18He has been talking about this battle between democracies and autocracies, this fight for
03:24freedom, the fact that the world is at an inflection point and there is no better stage
03:30than Normandy for that message to be heard.
03:33And of course, that speech that he's going to be given tomorrow is at the Pointe du Hoc.
03:38And 40 years ago, it was Ronald Reagan who gave a speech at that same exact place talking
03:44about exactly the same topics.
03:47At the time, it was the battle versus the Soviet Union.
03:51This time, it is a battle in a way against Russia facing the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
03:59but also the battle for those around the world that are wanting to break those transatlantic
04:06ties, all of the things that those soldiers, he is likely to say, fought for and many of
04:13them sacrificed for.
04:14And there was a line also by Emmanuel Macron yesterday during some of the ceremonies talking
04:21about the fact that many of these people sacrificed, made the ultimate sacrifice for us today to
04:29have the freedom that we have.