D-Day Remembered
On June 6, 1984, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the D-Day invasion. He spoke to a group of veterans assembled at Pointe du Hoc, overlooking the beaches of Normandy. In his moving talk, he asked rhetorically why men like these would put aside their instinct for self-preservation and risk their lives to overcome such overwhelming obstacles. What inspired them?
We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge and pray God we have not lost it that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One’s country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man…
Something else helped the men of D-Day: their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion… General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listen(ed) in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: “I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.”
These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies.456
We pray that what inspired our heroes of D-Day will continue to inspire and unify our nation during the troubled times that will inevitably come in the future. We hope and pray that America will continue to put God’s will and his guidance ahead of all other worldly concerns.
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
—Deuteronomy 31:8
President Reagan speaks at the 40th Anniversary of D-Day.(National Archives)
