Re-Imagining the Normandy Landing in a World that "Stands With" its "Investments": Remarks by President Biden Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of D-Day | Collevile-sur-Mer, France

 

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It has been my habit to commemorate the Allied landing in the beaches of Normandy, which we now mark as the start of the last phase of the war in Europe's Western front, by observing how its actuality has been transformed into a memory, and how that memory has been transformed in turn into an object the signification of which is meant to reflect on the hopes, aspirations, dreams, and nightmare's of the current era. These include: (1) Broken Parallels--President Biden Marks the 78th Anniversary of the Allied Landing in Normandy (2022); (2) Commemorating the Anniversary of the Allied Landing in France 6 June 1944: From Living Memory to a Memory of the Once Living in the Remarks of US Presidents 1944-2019 /20219; (3) Ruminations 86: An Elegy on the 75th Anniversary of the Allied Invasion of Normandy (2019); and (4) Ruminations 78: Reflections on the 74th Anniversary of D-Day; Memory, Remembrance and Recollection (2018).

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The Normandy invasion invasion is no longer (was it ever?) a thing in itself. It's existence as an object n a specific place, space, and time, is  now input both the construction of the memory of it, as well as a narrative justification for whatever it is that memory might serve some use--in this case most specifically on the situation of the Russo-Ukrainian War. But where Normandy one signified a critical step towards total victory against he enemy, it is now a cautionary tale about the cost of that victory and thus increasing, a signifier of the imperatives of cease fire, negotiation, and the value of impunity with respect to the values that military victory was meant to secure. 

To mark the 80th Anniversary, President Biden delivered remarks (Remarks by President Biden Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of D-Day | Collevile-sur-Mer, France ).  The test of those remarks follows below. It is as much a reflect of the sunset of the life of an individual, whose greatest contribution is in the power to reminisce, and by reminiscing to pass long the essence of insight drawn from the memory of one's past, both received from one's elders, and from experienced. 

Theirs has always been the story of America. Just walk the rows of this cemetery, as I have. Nearly 10,000 heroes buried side by side, officers and enlisted, immigrants and native-born. Different races, different faiths, but all Americans. All served with honor when America and the world needed them most. Millions back home did their part as well. From coast to coast, Americans found countless ways to pitch in. They understood our democracy is only as strong as all of us make it, together. (Biden Remarks)

And from that memory, some insight in the form of essential premises from which to confront contemporary choices in a contemporary way applying contemporary values.

Freedom is worth it. Democracy is worth it. America is worth it. The world is worth it — then, now, and always. * * * Here we proved the forces of liberty are stronger than the forces of conquest. Here we proved that the ideals of our democracy are stronger than any army or combination of armies in the entire world. * * *We proved something else here as well: the unbreakable unity of the Allies. * * * What the Allies did together 80 years ago far surpassed anything we could have done on our own. It was a powerful illustration of how alliances — real alliances — make us stronger — a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget.(Biden Remarks)

Alliance, joint effort, a common purpose under the guidance and leadership of the vanguard of democratic social forces--the Americans.  And onward to a clear(ish) victory. That is what Mr Biden then transports into the contemporary period and its challenges: alliance, joint effort, and the guidance and leadership structures forged in the last great phase of the European sector of the wars of the first half of the 20th century. That is transposed--at least a a rhetorical flourish, to the contemporary situation in the latest phase of the European wars--the clean up of Soviet imperial ambitions in the West. "To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators is simply unthinkable. (Applause.) Were we to do that, it means we’d be forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches." (Biden Remarks). 

Mr. Biden, though, is invoking the interplay of a double memory. The first is that of the landing itself, and its meaning--however that changes to mimic or justify the times for which it is invoked.  But the second, perhaps, is the more important one--a memory of the first re-remembering by Mr. Reagan in his now famous 1984 speech at Normandy (here). That memory of this re-remembering remains as contested now as it was in 1984, though the contestation is intimately tied to the time, place, and space, of its invocation  (here, and here). That contestation, of course, reflects both the utility of the memory (re-remembered) and authority of the person who seeks to invoke the power to remember. In this case, then, the critique was not so much that Mr. Biden borrowed the form and some content of Mr. Reagan's speech, but that it as Biden Biden who did that--and its object might not have been so much US interests in reshaping Europe through the management of outcomes in the Russo-Ukraine war (to the extent that is possible by managing the flow of weapons and controlling their use) as it is Mr. Biden's political opponent in the 2024 US Presidential elections. The Washington Post provided one way of looking at that:

But one of his other objectives was, ironically, to stand with Reagan and against Trump. In the turbulence of current-day politics, Biden’s internationalism has far more in common with Reagan and the Republican Party of 40 years ago than with Trump’s “America First” doctrine that questions alliances, bends toward authoritarian leaders and points to an American retreat from leadership in the world. The Biden-Reagan connection has obvious limits, but for a moment at least, the current president could find common ground with someone whose politics he opposed when he was in the Senate and Reagan was in the White House. (Biden marks D-Day by channeling Reagan and contrasting with Trump)

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Of course, there was more to it than that. Mr. Biden did not merely repeat or invoke, even against whatever it is that Mr. Trump represents, but that he might have sought to reshape the meaning and direction of that earlier speech. Not too much, mind you, but perhaps just enough to infuse Mr. Reagan's words with substantially new meanings, and those meanings with new sensibilities. One speaks now in  terms of investment: "Together, we won the war. We rebuilt Europe, including our former enemies. It was an investment in what became shared and a prosperous future." (Biden Remarks). The new language is one of "standing strong" and "standing with" but not quite of direct investment in places like Ukraine. "We will not walk away — (applause) — because if we do, Ukraine will be subjugated." Investment now requires standing with, but standing with has a quite specific meaning--less about the space of physical battle then what might be richer prizes: "And it will not end there. Ukraine’s neighbors will be threatened. All of Europe will be threatened." (Biden Remarks). "Stopping bullies" on these terms does not necessarily mean destroying either specific bullies or the institutional structures that provide them with cover (though it might be worth noting that this objective might may been the "main course" on the menu of those building the UN in the 1940s). That the Allies will not permit aggression, ("We will not bow down. We will not forget." Biden Remarks); does not necessarily mean that "we" will not negotiate in order to protect the prize. The concept of impunity, a different sort of freedom, a freedom from punishment, continues to adjust itself to suit the times and the needs of those who would invoke its principle pragmatically.  

It might be thought a pity, then, that the rhetoric of 20th century victory does not align well with the contemporary calculus of the price (in human suffering) that it tends to exact. Death now serves as its cautionary narrative, cautioning about the value of total victory when at least the rates and intensity of suffering might be mitigated and prolonged through ceasefire, negotiation, and the embrace of a militant stats quo that delays and reduces the intensity of, but does not end, violence. What is now understood is that the price of victory can be stretched out over a longer period of time. Intensified warfare is too awful to contemplate without punishing those who engage in the practice. But stretching out that violence, so that at any one time, the rate and totals of suffering fall within acceptable parameters is fall more palatable than the sort of immediate and awful price that the Allies paid for that little foothold on the Northern beaches of France. For Ukraine, the lesson might be less palatable.  For Russia--perhaps..precisely what it may be looking for. 

I end as I did in 2018 with this:

In memory of that sacrifice and those memories, and to honor the grand victories overseen by the few leaders of the many but made possible by the many sacrifices of those who consented to be led, this post briefly considers the way that history and memory figure into our relation to D-Day, and how that that relation between history and memory, what occurred and what is remembered continues to play a crucial role not in the shaping of history but in the curating of present through the management of the living memory of historical epochs.  (here)

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The semiosis of memory may be excruciating; a word with its etymological overtones of crucifixion (here). That mimesis fascinates--in the way that words and concepts serve as the sort of enchantments for  the ideological realm.  For some that pain and its bewitchment, may be a relief, a respite from the contemporary conjugations of a present tense impossible (links to prior conjugations here).  But the transformation of a lived past into a present reconstruction, the exercise of memory as a dialog with the future through the choices of transmission and the ordering of recollection reshapes the past into something palatable and perhaps useful for the present. The judgment of future recollection remains to be experienced.   The 2024 Remarks of Mr Biden follow.

Remarks by President Biden Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of D-Day | Collevile-sur-Mer, France Home

Normandy American Cemetery
Colleville-sur-Mer, France

2:01 P.M. CEST

THE PRESIDENT: The hour had nearly come. Monday, June 5th, 1944.

The evil of (inaudible) Third Reich was devastating the world. Nazi Germany had subjugated the once-free nations of Europe through brute force, lies, and twisted ideology of racial superiority.

Millions of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Millions of others killed by bombs, bullets, bloody warfare.

Hitler and those with him thought democracies were weak, that the future belonged to dictators.

Here, on the coast of Normandy, the battle between freedom and tyranny would be joined. Here, on that June morning, the testing was at hand.

President Macron, Mrs. Macron, Secretary Austin, Secretary Blinken, distinguished guests. Most of all, our honored veterans, who met that test to the ages — a test of ages to that moment 80 years ago — 80 years ago today. (Applause.)

On behalf of the American people and as Commander-in-Chief, it’s the highest honor to be able to salute you here in Normandy once more — all of you. God love you. (Applause.)

Winston Churchill called what happened here, quote, “the greatest, most complicated operation ever,” end of quote.

After years of planning, Operation Overlord was ready to launch just as soon as the weather turned. Across the choppy Eng- — choppy Eng- — English Channel, the Supreme Commander of the Allies, Dwight D. Eisenhower, waited. The largest force ever of its kind, built by 12 nations — men, guns, planes, naval craft of every description — waited. The world, captive and free, waited.

Finally, Eisenhower’s forecasters said there was a window in the weather. It would open briefly on Tuesday the 6th of June.

The general weighed the options and gave the order: At dawn, the Allies would strike. The “Great Crusade” to free Europe from tyranny would begin.

That night, General Eisenhower drove to the English town of Newbury to visit paratroopers of the 101st Airborne. They were men from all over America. It was estimated that 80 percent of them would be killed within hours. That was the estimate. But they were brave, they were resolute, and they were ready.

One soldier told General Eisenhower, quote, “Don’t worry, sor- — sir. The 101st is on the job. Everything will be taken care of.” That’s what he said.

And because of their courage and their resolve, because of the courage and resolve of their allies, it was taken care of.

From the sea and sky, nearly 160,000 Allied troops descended on Normandy. Many, to state the obvious, never came home. Many survived that “longest day,” kept on fighting for months until victory was finally won. And a few, a noble band of brothers, are here with us today.

Kenneth Blaine Smith is here. On that day, under heavy artillery fire, he operated a range finder and radar on the first American ship to arrive at Normandy’s coast, providing direct gunfire support for the Rangers scaling the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on their daring mission to take out the German batteries.

Bob Gibson is here. He landed on Utah Beach about 10 hours after the invasion began. Bullets flying everywhere. Tracers lighting up the sky. Bob drove an M4 tractor with an anti-aircraft gun mounted on top, providing critical protection for the infantry against the German air force. On that day and for many days after, he continued.

Ben Miller is here. A medic with the 82nd Airborne. At 3:00 a.m. on June 6th, he and 13 other medics flew over the Channel in a rickety glider. Its wings were ripped off by giant poles that the Germans buried halfway in the ground to stop them from landing. They crashed, but they survived. And they did their duty: dragging injured soldiers to safety, treating wounds, saving lives while the battle raged.

Every soldier who stormed the beach, who dropped by parachute or landed by glider; every sailor who manned the thousands of ships and landing craft; every aviator who destroyed German-controlled air fields, bridges, and railroads — all — all were backed by other brave Americans, including hundreds of thousands of people of color and women who courageously served despite unjust limitations on what they could do for their nation.

Louis Brown is here. Part of the “Red Ball Express,” a truck convoy made up mostly of African American drivers. They landed at Normandy in the wake of D-Day. They rushed supplies to the rapidly advancing frontlines.

Woody Woodhouse is here. Members of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, who flew over 15,000 sorties during the war.

Marjorie Stone is here. She enlisted in the women’s branch of the Naval Reserve, became an aircraft mechanic, spent the war keeping American planes and pilots in the air.

Theirs has always been the story of America. Just walk the rows of this cemetery, as I have. Nearly 10,000 heroes buried side by side, officers and enlisted, immigrants and native-born. Different races, different faiths, but all Americans. All served with honor when America and the world needed them most.

Millions back home did their part as well. From coast to coast, Americans found countless ways to pitch in. They understood our democracy is only as strong as all of us make it, together.

The men who fought here became heroes not because they were the strongest or toughest or were fiercest — although they were — but because they were given an audacious mission knowing — every one of them knew the probability of dying was real, but they did it anyway. They knew, beyond any doubt, there are things that are worth fighting and dying for.

Freedom is worth it. Democracy is worth it. America is worth it. The world is worth it — then, now, and always.

The war in Europe didn’t end for another 11 months. But here the tide turned in our favor. Here we proved the forces of liberty are stronger than the forces of conquest. Here we proved that the ideals of our democracy are stronger than any army or combination of armies in the entire world.

We proved something else here as well: the unbreakable unity of the Allies.

Here with us are men who served alongside the Americans that day, wearing different flags on their arms but fighting with the same courage, for the same purpose.

What the Allies did together 80 years ago far surpassed anything we could have done on our own. It was a powerful illustration of how alliances — real alliances — make us stronger — a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget.

Together, we won the war. We rebuilt Europe, including our former enemies. It was an investment in what became shared and a prosperous future.

We established NATO, the greatest military alliance in the history of the world. And over time — (applause) — you got it; it is — and over time, we brought more nations into NATO — the NATO Alliance, including the newest members: Finland and Sweden. (Applause.)

Today, NATO stands at 32 countries strong. And NATO is more united than ever and even more prepared to keep the peace, deter aggression, defend freedom all around the world.

America has invested in our alliances and forged new ones — not simply out of altruism but out of our own self-interest as well.

America’s unique ability to bring countries together is an un- — undeniable source of our strength and our power. Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago, and it is not the answer today. (Applause.)

We know the dark forces that these heroes fought against 80 years ago. They never fade. Aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and control, to change borders by force — these are perennial. And the struggle between a dictatorship and freedom is unending.

Here, in Europe, we see one stark example. Ukraine has been invaded by a tyrant bent on domination.

Ukrainians are fighting with extraordinary courage, suffering great losses, but never backing down. (Applause.)

They’ve inflicted on the Russian aggressors — they’ve suffered tremendous losses, Russia. The numbers are staggering — 350,000 Russian troops dead or wounded. Nearly 1 million people have left Russia because they can no longer see a future in Russia.

The United States and NATO and a coalition of more than 50 countries standing strong with Ukraine. We will not walk away — (applause) — because if we do, Ukraine will be subjugated.

And it will not end there. Ukraine’s neighbors will be threatened. All of Europe will be threatened.

And make no mistake, the autocrats of the world are watching closely to see what happens in Ukraine, to see if we let this illegal aggression go unchecked. We cannot let that happen.

To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators is simply unthinkable. (Applause.) Were we to do that, it means we’d be forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches.

Make no mistake: We will not bow down. We will not forget.

Let me end with this. History tells us freedom is not free. If you want to know the price of freedom, come here to Normandy. Come to Normandy and look. Go to the other cemeteries in Europe where our fallen heroes rest. Go back home to Arlington Cemetery.

Tomorrow, I will pay respects at Pointe du Hoc. Go there as well and remember: The price of unchecked tyranny is the blood of the young and the brave.

In their generation, in their hour of trial, the Allied forces of D-Day did their duty. Now the question for us is: In our hour of trial, will we do ours?

We’re living in a time when democracy is more at risk across the world than at any point since the end of the World War Two — since these beaches were stormed in 1944.

Now, we have to ask ourselves: Will we stand against tyranny, against evil, against crushing brutality of the iron fist?

Will we stand for freedom? Will we defend democracy? Will we stand together? (Applause.)

My answer is yes. And it only can be yes. (Applause.)

We’re not far off from the time when the last living voices of those who fought and bled on D-Day will no longer be with us. So, we have a special obligation. We cannot let what happened here be lost in the silence of the years to come. We must remember it, must honor it, and live it.

And we must remember: The fact that they were heroes here that day does not absolve us from what we have to do today.

Democracy is never guaranteed. Every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it. That’s the test of the ages.

In memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here, let us be worthy of their sacrifice. Let us be the generation that when history is written about our time — in 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now — it will be said: When the moment came, we met the moment. We stood strong. Our alliances were made stronger. And we saved democracy in our time as well.

Thank you very much.

And may God bless you all. And may God protect our troops.

Thank you. (Applause.)

2:17 P.M. CEST