Putting aside differences over the Iraq war, US President
George Bush and French President Jacques Chirac
vowed on Sunday
to safeguard the transatlantic alliance they forged.
They said modern
leaders had a duty to honour the values the soldiers died for by
defending the cause of freedom and democracy together.
"France will never forget what it owes America, its
steadfast friend and ally," Chirac told a ceremony attended by
about 20 heads of state and government at Arromanches, a coastal
village which was the scene of heavy fighting on 6 June, 1944.
"Like all the countries of Europe, France is keenly aware
that the Atlantic alliance remains, in the face of new threats,
a fundamental element of our collective security."
Spirit of reconciliation
Hailing the presence of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the
first German leader to attend D-Day anniversary events in
France, Chirac said: "We hold up the example of Franco-German
reconciliation, to show the world that hatred has no future."
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"The German soldiers had a job to do, just as we had a job to do. I feel no animosity towards them, and after all it was 60 years ago"
John Rockley.
British D-Day veteran
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Bush, standing beside Chirac at an earlier ceremony, said
the United States and its European allies were bound together by
the sacrifices that were made 60 years ago to help liberate
Europe from the Nazis' stranglehold during World War Two.
"Our great alliance is strong and it is still needed today,"
Bush told a crowd of war veterans at the US cemetery at
Colleville-sur-Mer, a village near the beach codenamed Omaha
where US troops suffered heavy losses.
A 21-gun salute and a military flyover honoured those buried
at the cemetery as Bush and Chirac stood to attention.
Many of the D-Day survivors, some in wheelchairs and many
now in their 80s, embodied the spirit of reconciliation.
Massive security operation
"The German soldiers had a job to do, just as we had a job
to do," said 81-year-old British veteran John Rockley. "I feel
no animosity towards them, and after all it was 60 years ago."
Bush and Chirac made their own pledges of reconciliation at
talks in Paris on Saturday intended to mend ties strained by
differences over the Iraq war, which France opposed.
Neither made any direct reference to Iraq on Sunday,
avoiding saying anything that might stoke a new diplomatic row.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Tony Blair,
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Canadian Prime Minister
Paul Martin were among other leaders who attended the ceremonies
amid one of the biggest security operations staged in France.
Historical battle
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France and the US put aside their
differences over the Iraq war |
Around 30,000 troops were deployed in the area around the
Normandy beaches and helicopters patrolled overhead.
Fighter
planes were ready to shoot down any aircraft violating the
no-fly zone around the event if ordered to do so by Paris.
Queen Elizabeth hailed the allies' advance in France as "one
of the most dramatic military operations in history".
Some 23,400 British and American paratroopers were dropped
inland on D-Day and more than 132,000 troops were then landed on
Normandy beaches codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
Allied casualties on D-Day are estimated at 10,000, of whom
2,500 were killed. German casualties are not known but are
estimated at between 4,000 and 9,000.