Remembering D-Day, 1974 & Today

In 1975, I found myself with a man I would eventually leave, in a pub in the outskirts of London on June 6^th.

It was crowded, the crowd very British & the loudspeakers full volume.  There were no televisions in pubs in those days & the only electronic device was the radio playing through the loud speakers.  We were the youngest two people in the pub & the only Americans.

We were staying in a bed-sitter flat in a suburb of London.  We ate breakfast in our room, which was equipped with a hot plate, a sink, dishes, a tiny thing that passed as a refrigerator, a television & a heating unit that demanded coins. 

Our flat was ground level, a picture window facing the street.  A tube station was within a short walk & London was just a subway ride away.

Our bathroom was equipped with a claw foot tub & a toilet nestled in the basement next to the host family’s washer & dryer.  Which resembled nothing I had ever seen before.

As we explored London & its environs, we ate our lunches from our backpacks or at pubs.  Pubs offered cheap food,  great atmosphere, endless refills on hot tea.  We drank copious amounts of hot tea.  And an occasional pint.

On June 6^th, we sat in a pub, drinking our copious amounts of hot tea & suddenly the music blaring over the loud speakers stopped.

We were in the middle of planning a day excursion to Stratford-Upon-Avon & another to Stonehenge.  Until we noticed that all conversation & movement but ours had stopped at the sound of one voice coming from the radio through the loud speakers.

The voice of the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe in World War II.

People of Western Europe: A landing was made this morning on the coast of France by troops of the Allied Expeditionary Force. This landing is part of the concerted United Nations plan for the liberation of Europe, made in conjunction with our great Russian allies.

I have this message for all of you. Although the initial assault may not have been made in your own country, the hour of your liberation is approaching.

All patriots, men and women, young and old, have a part to play in the achievement of final victory. To members of resistance movements, I say, Follow the instructions you have received. To patriots who are not members of organized resistance groups, I say, Continue your passive resistance, but do not needlessly endanger your lives until I give you the signal to rise and strike the enemy. The day will come when I shall need your united strength.  Until that day, I call on you for the hard task of discipline and restraint.

Citizens of France! I am proud to have again under my command the gallant Forces of France.  Fighting beside their Allies, they will play a worthy part in the liberation of their Homeland.

Because the initial landing has been made on the soil of your country, I repeat to you with even greater emphasis my message to the peoples of other occupied countries in Western Europe. Follow the instructions of your leaders. A premature uprising of all Frenchmen may prevent you from being of maximum help to your country in the critical hour. Be patient. Prepare! 

As Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, there is imposed on me the duty and responsibility of taking all measures necessary to the prosecution of the war. Prompt and willing obedience to the orders that I shall issue is essential.

Effective civil administration of France must be provided by Frenchmen. All persons must continue in their present duties unless otherwise instructed. Those who have made common cause with the enemy and so betrayed their country will be removed. As France is liberated from her oppressors, you yourselves will choose your representatives, and the government under which you wish to live. 

In the course of this campaign for the final defeat of the enemy you may sustain further loss and damage. Tragic though they may be, they are part of the price of victory. I assure you that I shall do all in my power to mitigate your hardships. I know that I can count on your steadfastness now, no less than in the past. The heroic deeds of Frenchmen who have continued the struggle against the Nazis and their Vichy satellites, in France and throughout the French Empire, have been an example and an inspiration to all of us.

This landing is but the opening phase of the campaign in Western Europe. Great battles lie ahead. I call upon all who love freedom to stand with us. Keep your faith staunch – our arms are resolute – together we shall achieve victory.

At the end of the speech, every woman & man in the pub stood, all their faces streaming with tears & applauded.

Humbled by their reaction to an event that occurred thirty one years earlier, before either of us was born, we were silent & still.

I lost my appetite for my tomato & cheese sandwich on buttered white bread & for those comforting copious cups of hot tea.  Other speeches were played & read, but this was a speech by the American general who would become the 34^th President of the United States.

And then a man at a table near us reached out his hand, & smiled.

You are Americans, aren’t you?

One of us replied yes, sir & he got up from his table, shook our hands & said

Welcome.  You will always be welcome here.

Other patrons stopped at our table on their exit out of the pub to give greetings & solidarity.  As we left, those that remained called out wishes for a safe & happy journey.

It was one of those singular moments that sometimes happen when you travel & attempt to mesh yourself in the local culture. 

On our trip that summer, we experienced incredible singular moments.

But none like that particular moment.  A moment that was not just about being American or British or French or Russian or Australian or Belgian or Brazilian or Canadian or Chinese or Danish or Greek or Dutch or New Zealanders or Norwegians or Polish or South African or Yugoslavian.

 It was not even about being German or Italian or Japanese or Hungarian or Romanian or Bulgarian.

It was about a day that will ever remain in our nation’s collective memory, & other nations’ collective memories, as the day when all who loved freedom stood together, kept their faith staunch, their arms resolute & achieved victory over an enemy that threatened the world.

On this day, the 70^th anniversary of D-Day, I salute those men & women whose sacrifice guaranteed that the rest of us could emerge.  Free.