President Joe Biden is invoking the memory of the Pointe du Hoc Rangers to make a point about democracy.
During a speech on Friday, Biden referred to Army Rangers who scaled a 100-foot in Normandy 80-years ago while under gunfire.
“As we gather here today, it’s not just to honor those who showed such remarkable bravery on that day… It’s to listen to the echoes of their voices. To hear them,” the president said.
He continued:
“Because they are summoning us, and they’re summoning us now. They ask us, what will we do? They’re not asking us to scale these cliffs. But they’re asking us to stay true to what America stands for. They’re not asking us to give or risk our lives. But they are asking us to care for others in our country more than ourselves. They’re not asking us to do their job. They’re asking us to do our job: to protect freedom in our time, to defend democracy, to stand up to aggression abroad and at home.”
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In a speech on Thursday, commemorating, Biden also sought to draw a comparison between World War II and the current events, saying, “Here, the coast of Normandy, the battle between freedom and tyranny would be joined. Here, on that June morning, the testing was at hand.”
“Aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and control, to change borders by force. These are perennial. And the struggle between a dictatorship and freedom is unending,” he continued as he mentioned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Here in Europe, we see one stark example: Ukraine has been invaded by a tyrant bent on domination. Ukrainians are fighting with extraordinary courage, suffering great losses, but never backing down.”
