Obama praises Blitz spirit at D-Day commemoration

US President Barack Obama today praised the British Blitz spirit as thousands of veterans, servicemen and their families gathered in Normandy to mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

He joined beleaguered British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Prince Charles and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy at the American Cemetery above Omaha beach in Colleville-sur-Mer.

“This is the story of the Allied victory,” said Mr Obama. “It is the legend of units like Easy Company and the All-American 82nd.

“It is the tale of the British people, whose courage during the Blitz forced Hitler to call off the invasion of England.

“The Canadians, who came even though they were never attacked.

“The Russians, who sustained some of the war’s heaviest casualties on the Eastern front and all those French men and women who would rather have died resisting tyranny than live within its grasp.”

The service, set amidst the graves of 9,387 US servicemen, was one of scores taking place in the region to mark D-Day – June 6, 1944 and the Normandy campaign which followed.

Mr Brown took time out from political troubles at home as he joined Prince Charles at a remembrance service in Bayeux Cathedral.

Later he sat between Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Prince Charles at the arc memorial in Colleville.

Mr Brown spoke of the WWII legacy and of trouble in Darfur, Burma, Zimbabwe.

“How can we say we have achieved all that we set out to do,” he said. “The promise of peace and justice.”

He added: “There are dreams of liberation still to be realised, commitments still to be redeemed.

“We must be liberators for our generation.

“The beacon of hope that was lit and the liberation of Europe must now lead us on.”

Mr Brown also praised British veteran Jack Woods who was presented with the rank of Officer of the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest military distinction, by President Sarkozy during the ceremony.

“Sixty five years ago in the thin light of grey dawn more than 1,000 small craft took to a rough sea on a day that will be forever a day of bravery,” he said.

“On that June morning the young of our nations stepped out on those beaches below and into history.

“As long as freedom lives their debts will never die.”

At Bayeux Cemetery, hundreds of Normandy veterans were applauded as they took part in a parade and service amongst the graves of fallen British soldiers.

Prince Charles met veterans and cadets who cheered and clapped him as he walked around the cemetery.

Many said they were thrilled he had attended after the French authorities failed to invite the Queen.

Peter Lennard, a troop commander with 30th Corps Anti Tank Regiment on D-Day, said afterwards: “It was lovely to meet him.

“I was so fed up about it. I felt like saying to him: ’How’s your mum?”’

Major General Tony Richardson, the president of the Normandy Veterans Association who served with the 147th Essex Yeomanry on D-Day, said today’s service had been “absolutely tremendous”.

“The Prince of Wales is terrific,” he said. “He managed to speak to so many people, so many veterans and shook so many hands.

“It’s wonderful to see so many veterans here. We are getting a little bit older but we remember everything that happened 65 years ago even if we have difficulty remembering what happened yesterday.”

Mr Sarkozy went some way to answering critics who accused him of snubbing the British with a Franco-American anniversary.

The ceremonial ground at Colleville was dominated by the flags of France and the US but standard bearers carried the Allies’ flags, which included the Union flag.

“The Battle of Normandy decided the outcome of the war,” he told guests at Colleville, which included actor Tom Hanks.

Hanks played Captain John H Miller in the film 'Saving Private Ryan' which dramatises the horror of the Omaha landing in its opening sequence.

Mr Sarkozy said: “It was won on the beaches and along the narrow lanes and hedgerows of the Norman countryside by the sons of American workers and farmers whose own fathers had fought in the Meuse-Argonne offensive in 1918, by British soldiers who embodied the fighting spirit of a great people that had stood firm in the most terrible hour of their history, and by Canadian troops who had volunteered for service in the earliest days of the conflict, not because their country was threatened, but because they were convinced it was a matter of honour.”