D-Day: Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, whose father fought in WW2, attend moving ‘last goodbye’ ceremony to mark 80th anniversary of Normandy landings as actor praises ‘young men doing the right thing’
Movie icons Steven Spielberg And Tom Hanks arrived in Normandy on Thursday morning as part of the Commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The pair, known for their collaboration in the 1998 Oscar-winning epic Saving Private Ryan, depicted the events of the fateful day in 1945 when the tide turned. WWII in favor of the Allies, dozens of world leaders attended the events.
After Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg and Hanks teamed up again for the drama series Band of Brothers, which followed American soldiers in the north of the country. France in the aftermath of the storming of the beaches.
Hanks and Spielberg were seen talking at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks Omaha Beach.
On June 6, 1944, almost 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy. Of these, 73,000 were from the United States and 83,000 from Great Britain and Great Britain. Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops fighting with General Charles de Gaulle.
The Allies faced approximately 50,000 German troops.
Hanks and Spielberg were seen talking at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks Omaha Beach
Steven Spielberg attended the ceremony at the American Cemetery
Hanks and Spielberg pictured during the filming of Saving Private Ryan with actor Edward Burns in the background
More than two million Allied soldiers, sailors, pilots, medics and other people from a dozen countries were involved in the overall Operation Overlord, the battle to wrest western France from Nazi control that began on D-Day.
Spielberg’s father, Arnold, was drafted into the U.S. Army in January 1942, a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Thanks to his skills with radio equipment, Arnold was assigned to the Signal Corps.
He eventually rose to the rank of communications chief in the 409th Bomb Squadron stationed in India. It is estimated that the Spielberg family lost as many as twenty relatives in Nazi concentration camps. Arnold passed away in 2020.
President Joe Biden is expected to compare Europe’s struggle to defeat the Nazis to the current struggle in Ukraine, where Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped up his attacks.
“Today, in 2024, 80 years later, we see dictators once again trying to challenge order and march across Europe,” said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
He added that Biden “will draw a through line from World War II through the Cold War and the rise of the greatest military alliance the world has ever known, the NATO alliance, to today, where we once again face war in Europe, where NATO has united to defend freedom and sovereignty in Europe.’
Biden will also meet American veterans who fought during D-Day. French President Emmanuel Macron will join him at the event.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive at Caen-Carpiquet Airport in Carpiquet, France, en route to ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk off Marine One as they arrive at the Normandy American Cemetery, where they will attend ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day
Planes fly over the beaches of Arromanches in Normandy
The 172.5 hectare cemetery was established on June 8, 1944 by the American First Army as the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.
Each grave site was decorated with a French and American flag. Many buried there died on D-Day. The names of 1,557 soldiers are also inscribed on the Walls of the Missing.
The graves contain 307 unknown personnel, three Medal of Honor recipients and four women. Forty-five sets of brothers are commemorated or buried in the cemetery. Father and son are also buried next to each other.
