REPLAY: Biden's speech from Pointe du Hoc in Normandy
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00:00Please, sit down.
00:07At last, the hour had come.
00:14Dawn, 6th of June, 1944.
00:18The wind was pounding as it is today, and always has against these cliffs.
00:25225 American Rangers arrived by ship, jumped into the waves and stormed the beach.
00:33They could see, all they could see was the outline of the shore and the enormity of these cliffs.
00:39And I'd like to look, I know I'll get in trouble with the Secret Service if I go to the edge and look over, but
00:45think of those cliffs as my hostess showed me. That's what we're standing on top of.
00:51They could hear, all they could hear was the crack of bullets hitting ships, sand, rocks, hitting everything.
00:59All they knew was time was of the essence.
01:04They had only 30 minutes, 30 minutes to eliminate the Nazi guns high on this cliff.
01:10Guns that could halt the Allied invasion before it even began.
01:16These were American Rangers. They were ready.
01:20They ran toward the cliffs and mines planted on the beach by Field Marshal Rommel,
01:26exploded around them, but still they kept coming.
01:31Gunfire rained above them, but still they kept coming.
01:36Nazi grenades thrown from above exploded against the cliffs, but still they kept coming.
01:44Within minutes, they reached the base of this cliff.
01:49They launched their ladders, their ropes, and grappling hooks, and they began to climb.
01:56When the Nazis cut their ladders, the Rangers used their ropes.
02:02When the Nazis cut their ropes, the Rangers used their hands.
02:06And inch by inch, foot by foot, yard by yard, the Rangers clawed,
02:12literally clawed their way up this mighty precipice until at last they reached the top.
02:19They breached Hitler's Atlantic wall, and they turned in that one effort,
02:24the tide of the war that began to save the world.
02:30Ladies and gentlemen, yesterday I paid my respects at the American cemetery just a few miles from here,
02:37where many of those Rangers who died taking this cliff are buried.
02:41I spoke of what the fallen had done to defend freedom.
02:46Today, as I look out at this battlefield and all the bunkers and bomb craters that are still surrounded,
02:54one thought comes to mind, my God, my God, how did they do it?
03:02How were these Americans willing to risk everything, dare everything, and give everything?
03:09They were Americans like Sergeant Leonard Lomo from New Jersey.
03:17He was one of the first Rangers to jump off his ship and run toward the cliff.
03:21He almost was shot right above the hip initially, and he wasn't sure, but he was.
03:27He kept going. At one point, he was scaling the cliff.
03:31Another Ranger yelled, I'm not sure I can make it.
03:35And Lomo yelled back with every ounce of strength he had in him, you've got to hold on.
03:41And he did and they did.
03:44Americans like Sergeant Tom Ruggiero from Massachusetts.
03:48The German shell hit his boat as he was approaching the shore.
03:52Everything exploded. The sergeant was knocked into the freezing water.
03:57And as he told it, he began to utter a prayer.
04:02Dear God, don't let me drown.
04:06I want to get in and do what I'm here and supposed to do.
04:11Americans like Colonel James Rudder, Texas.
04:15When the military asked for a battalion for this mission, he raised his hand and said, my Rangers can do the job.
04:24He knew their capacity. He knew the strength of their character.
04:28A few days after they scaled this cliff, he wrote a condolence letter to a mother of one of the Rangers who gave his life here.
04:35And that letter said, a country must be great to call for the sacrifice of such men.
04:42A country must be great to call for the sacrifice of such men.
04:46And Americans like John Wardell from New Jersey.
04:50John is here. John, we love you, man. Thank you for all you've done.
05:03Deserve that and a lot more, John.
05:05Just 18 years old, he deployed to this cliff to replace the surviving Rangers on that D-Day invasion.
05:13He would go on to fight across France and Germany.
05:17And early December, 1944, during one of those battles, shrapnel pierced his skull.
05:23By Christmas, he was back fighting with his unit.
05:28And here's what he said about what the notes he kept at that time.
05:31He said, knowing that my buddies and I always looked out for one another.
05:36That's why he came back. That's why he fought so hard to get back.
05:39He always looked out and his buddies looked out for one another.
05:43We talk about democracy, American democracy.
05:47We often talk about the ideals of life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.
05:52What we don't talk about is how hard it is.
05:56How many ways we're asked to walk away, how many instincts are to walk away.
06:02The most natural instinct is to walk away.
06:05To be selfish, to force our will upon others, to seize power, never give up.
06:13American democracy asks the hardest of things, to believe that we're part of something bigger than ourselves.
06:20So democracy begins with each of us.
06:23Begins when one person decides there's something more important than themselves.
06:28When they decide the person they're serving alongside of is someone to look after.
06:34When they decide the mission matters more than their life.
06:38When they decide that their country matters more than they do.
06:43That's what the Rangers at Pointe du Hoc did.
06:48That's what they decided.
06:50That's what every soldier and every Marine who stormed these beaches decided.
06:56A feared dictator had conquered a continent, had finally met his match.
07:02Because of them, the war turned.
07:05They stood against Hitler's aggression.
07:08Does anyone doubt, does anyone doubt that they would want America to stand up against Putin's aggression here in Europe today?
07:18They stormed the beaches alongside their allies.
07:22Does anyone believe these Rangers want America to go alone today?
07:28They fought to vanquish a hateful ideology in the 30s and 40s.
07:33Does anyone doubt they wouldn't move heaven and earth to vanquish hateful ideologies of today?
07:39These Rangers put mission and country above themselves.
07:43Does anyone believe they would exact any less from every American today?
07:49These Rangers remembered with reverence those who gave their lives in battle.
07:56Could they or anyone ever imagine that America would do the same, wouldn't do the same?
08:03They believed America was the beacon to the world.
08:06I'm certain they believed that it would be that way forever.
08:12You know, we stand today where we stand was not sacred ground on June the 5th.
08:18That's what it became on June the 6th.
08:22The Rangers who scaled this cliff didn't know they would change the world, but they did.
08:28I've long said that history has shown that ordinary Americans can do extraordinary things when challenged.
08:35There's no better example of that in the entire world than right here at Pointe du Hoc.
08:41Rangers from farms and cities in every part of America, from homes that didn't know wealth and power.
08:51They came to a shoreline that none of them would have picked out on a map.
08:56They came to a country many of them had never seen or people they had never met.
09:03But they came. They did their job.
09:07They fulfilled their mission and they did their duty.
09:12They were part of something greater than themselves.
09:15They were Americans.
09:17I stand here today as the first president to come to Pointe du Hoc when none of those 225 brave men who scaled this cliff on D-Day are still alive.
09:29None.
09:31But I'm here to tell you that with them gone, the wind we hear coming off this ocean will not fade.
09:39It will grow louder as we gather here today.
09:43It's not just to honor those who showed such remarkable bravery on that day, June 6th, 1944.
09:50It's to listen to the echoes of their voices, to hear them, because they are summoning us and they're summoning us now.
10:00They ask us, what will we do?
10:04They're not asking us to scale these cliffs, but they're asking us to stay true to what America stands for.
10:11They're not asking us to give or risk our lives, but they are asking us to care for others in our country more than ourselves.
10:20They're not asking us to do their job.
10:23They're asking us to do our job, to protect freedom in our time, to defend democracy, to stand up aggression abroad and at home, to be part of something bigger than ourselves.
10:37My fellow Americans, I refuse to believe, I simply refuse to believe that America's greatness is a thing of the past.
10:47I still believe there's nothing beyond our capacity in America when we act together.
10:53We're the fortunate heirs of a legacy of these heroes.
10:57Those who scale the cliffs point to Hawk.
11:01We must also be the keepers of their mission, the keepers of their mission, the bearers of the flame of freedom that they kept burning bright.
11:10That, that is the truest testimonial to their lives.
11:15Our actions every day to ensure that our democracy endures and the soul of our nation endures.
11:22To come here simply to remember the ghosts that point to Hawk isn't enough.
11:28We have need to hear them. We have to listen to them.
11:31We need to listen to what they had.
11:33We need to make a solemn vow to never let them down.
11:39God bless the fallen.
11:41God bless the brave men who scaled these cliffs.
11:45May God protect our troops.
11:48God bless America.