*EPF107 06/07/2004
Bush Praises D-Day Allies, Says Operation Was Planned Only as Victory
(America would do it again for its friends, he says) (450)

By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr.
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- President Bush, paying tribute those who died and those who survived the D-Day, June 6, 1944, Normandy landing, said the operation to invade Fortress Europe and defeat the enemy Nazi forces was planned only as a victory; failure was not part of the plan.

"The ranks of the Allied Expeditionary Force were filled with men who did a specific assigned task, from clearing mines, to unloading boats, to scaling cliffs, whatever the danger, whatever the cost. And the sum of this duty was an unstoppable force," Bush told an audience at the Normandy American Cemetery June 6.

Bush quoted the then Allied Commander, General Dwight Eisenhower, who said, "This operation is planned as a victory, and that's the way it is going to be." At the end of the day, more than 150,000 allied soldiers had breached the Atlantic Wall and the turning point of World War II in Europe had begun.

But Bush said it would not be an easy fight, because allied forces still faced 50 German divisions and more than 800,000 soldiers in France alone. "D-Day plus one, and D-Day plus two and many months of fierce fighting lay ahead, from Arnhem to Hurtgen to the Bulge," Bush said.

As the war in Europe continued, the Americans shared the battle with Britains, Canadians, Poles, free French, and citizens from other lands, and from that sacrifice they became inseparable allies, he said.

"The nations that liberated a conquered Europe would stand together for the freedom of all of Europe," he said. "The nations that battled across the continent would become trusted partners in the cause of peace. And our great alliance of freedom is strong, and it is still needed today."

Bush said Americans think of those who died at Normandy as the veterans of that day last saw them.

"We think of men not far from boys who found the courage to charge toward death and who often, when death came, were heard to call, 'Mom,' and, 'Mother, help me.' We think of men in the promise years of life, loved and mourned and missed to this day," he said.

The summit those soldiers reached that day has now become a time for reflection, he said, but they will be honored ever and always by the country they served and by the nations they freed.

"America honors all the liberators who fought here in the noblest of causes, and America would do it again for our friends," Bush said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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