The following is a statement from County Executive Robert P. Astorino:
Today we remember and honor one of the most incredible mass demonstrations of courage and patriotism the world has ever witnessed, a fight against evil aggression in an undertaking unparalleled in human history.
Seventy years ago today, young American men stormed the beaches at Normandy not knowing their eventual fate but knowing they were in the right. The human cost of the invasion was high but the result of the invasion was a freed continent from tyranny and the beginning of the end of World War II.
Words often can't serve to measure the power of such heroic actions, but President Reagan's speech on the 40th anniversary, 30 years ago, comes close. In his speech, President Reagan honors the "boys of Pointe Du Hoc," the Rangers who took the cliffs between Omaha Beach and Utah Beach to destroy the coastal gun battery located at top. As you will hear in President Reagan's speech, "The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers – the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb."
If that doesn't give you a chill down your spine and make you proud to be an American... God Bless our World War II Veterans. They truly were the flag bearers of The Greatest Generation.
Here's the speech President Reagan delivered 30 years ago: