Joe and Jill Biden arrive in Normandy to mark D-Day’s 80th anniversary with president to compare struggle to defeat Nazis to situation in Ukraine

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived in Normandy on Thursday morning to mark the 80th anniversary of the storming of the beaches there.

In his remarks, Biden will compare Europe’s struggle to defeat the Nazis with the current struggle in the United States Ukrainewhere Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped up its 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 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, until today, where we again face war in Europe, where NATO has united to defend freedom and sovereignty in Europe.’

Biden will speak at the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, which contains 9,388 graves of American dead, most of them them in the shape of white Latin crosses.

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

Planes fly over the beaches of Arromanches in Normandy

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

He will also meet American veterans who fought during D-Day. French President Emmanuel Macron will join him at the event.

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.

The cemetery was quiet in the early morning hours before it filled with the 10,000 people marking the anniversary of the landing on Omaha Beach below.

Thursday is a sunny, beautiful day – a sharp contrast to the weather 80 years ago, when troops battled wind and rain to reach the beaches.

The only sounds were the birds in the trees and the waves of the English Channel. A few rabbits ran around the edge of the cemetery proper. The area was French farmland before it was donated to the United States for the burial of American dead.

A Navy destroyer sat offshore, a single reminder of the 6,939 ships that stormed the beaches 80 years ago. B-52 bombers flew overhead.

The Normandy landings, codenamed Operation Neptune, was the largest sea, air and land invasion in history. It was the beginning of the downfall of Adolf Hitler and the defeat of the Nazis Germany.

The attack began with Allied aircraft bombing German defenses in Normandy, followed by approximately 1,200 aircraft carrying airborne troops.

As the sun rose, ships began landing troops on five code-named beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. By the end of the day, nearly 160,000 Allied troops had landed in Normandy. There were thousands of victims.

Biden, 81, was one year old when it happened. It is thought Biden will be the last US president at a major D-Day anniversary event. His predecessor, Donald Trump, was born two years after D-Day.

This year’s ceremony is also believed to be one of the last major anniversaries where D-Day veterans will attend. The men and women who fought in the conflict are now in their 90s or older. Less than 1% of the 16.4 million Americans who served WWII live today.

American military personnel arrive at the Normandy American Cemetery above Omaha Beach

The sun rises over Omaha Beach near Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy

French President Emmanuel Macron (center) and French First Lady Brigitte Macron (second right) are welcomed by French officials upon arrival in Normandy

This photo is believed to show E Company, 16th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, taking part in the first wave of attacks during D-Day in Normandy

Also Thursday, King Charles and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will take part in a ceremony later in the day to honor them and the British troops who also landed on Sword Beach, while Prince William will take part in a ceremony for the Canadian troops who landed on Juno have landed. beach where Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will also be.

Later in the day, Biden will join international leaders in marking the solemn anniversary, which comes as allies show solidarity with Ukrainian President Volodymyr. Zelenskywho will be among the guests.

It will take place on Omaha Beach, the site of some of the heaviest and deadliest fighting between American forces and the German occupiers in France.

Russia was not invited, even though the role of the Soviet Red Army played a crucial role in Hitler’s defeat. Ten years ago, President Vladimir Putin attended the 70th anniversary celebrations.

Biden returns to Normandy on Friday to deliver a second speech, this time at Pointe du Hoc, where Army Rangers scaled the cliffs as German gunfire rained down on them.

He will give what the White House is calling a major speech, in which he will warn about the threats to democracy and the rise of dictators.

“It’s going to be action-packed and, I think, extremely moving,” Sullivan said, adding that it is an “opportunity for him to say thank you directly to the veterans who saved democracy, saved the free world and set the stage for the war’. decades of peace and prosperity that followed.”