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reporter: exactly, i think we re going to hear more of what we have already heard from president trump on this trip. what we have heard from president trump and the other world leaders who got together at portsmouth, just across the english channel from where we are now. if you turn over there from where this speech is happening, those veterans are sitting, just to their right is the sea, the channel, is where the beaches are. came across that really really difficult time, you remember d-day was delayed by 24 hours because of the bad weather. they were able to take advantage of a little break in the clouds. it was meant to have happened the day before. eisenhower had to sign off. he called it an appalling responsibility to try to figure out was the weather going to be good or not good enough to what was a surprise attack on these beaches and the surprise element is what really helped them to make that military wedge into the fierce german nazi defenses. ....
Pretty striking for people to hear on the beaches of normandy here at the american military cemetery in normandy, considering the fact, john, and alisyn the president has been critical of the nato alliance for years now since he was a candidate on the campaign trail in 2016. he s talked about how he s wanted to see nato partners contribute more of their gdp to defense spending. the common defense would be stronger. the president has defended that posture time and again, but that kind of rhetoric has rattled, you know, u.s. partners and allies over here in europe to a large extent and that continues to this day where the president is deeply unpopular in places lining france and britain and so on, but i think john and alisyn, this is one of those days, politics is set aside to a large extent so the president of the united states and president of france can commemorate bravery ....
Some imagine this, some are in their late 90s and have never been able to get here from the united states, and are making this trip for the first time. i think all of that is going to be a big big big mo teef today, and motif today, and given the threat and strain to the alliances, it s going to be a welcome boost, a really good jab in the arm for those who believe without allies, multilateralism, without acting together, the national and international agendas cannot be fulfilled. the men who landed on the beaches that day. the boys i should say who landed on the beaches that day, are the men now sitting behind the french president emanuel macron. and in conclusion of the speech he will present the legion of honor to five u.s. veterans, vincent heinz, terrance gerald, those are five of the 55 d-day veterans there for the ceremony. ....
Moment ago what we re likely to hear as the ceremony gets underway is the importance of the alliances that were built over the course of the post war peace building process. that s what s being celebrated. when you re here at the beaches, you have an idea how the alliances were built in the end in the coordinated efforts to get troops on shore. so many countries coming together. logistically, a difficult feat to get the troops ashore. an artificial port had to be built at gold beach to allow them to get the amount of equipment they needed to sustain the troops once they were on land to carry out the operations successfully. there s many different countries coming together to put together this incredibly ambitious air, land and sea operation. none has been more ambitious since, john, in days when the technology frankly was not as good as it has become. you get an idea of all the planning that had to go into it. two years worth, and all of the sacrifices that were made on that day. that ....
The ceremony that s about to get underway with the heads of state, and all of the beaches. i mean, they are all packed with people who have come in outfits of the day, and uniforms of the day. the veterans who have turned up. the younger generations kwhwho e come with their families, trucks like this lovingly restored to mark what went on, and most importantly, probably to keep it alive for the young to understand what went on, and how precious, how costly the piece that we have enjoyed for so long was built. that is such an important part. so much, the world has changed so much in the past 75 years with technology and beyond. 75 years ago was not ancient history. nazi germany was not ancient history, the faces of the men we see there, 65 who were there that day, you know, storming the beach. they re alive. they re here, and i think that that s why obviously these commemorations are so important, ....