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CNN Live Today

President Bush Spends Memorial Day at D-Day Invasion Site

Aired May 27, 2002 - 11:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: The president, of course, has got Memorial Day services under way as well. He has been in France, of course, at the site of the D-Day invasion.

CNN's Jim Bittermann is live now in Paris with more on this -- Jim.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kris, the president is actually right now on his way to Rome after spending what was perhaps the most moving day of his European tour here in France. The president visited the D-Day landing areas and beaches in Normandy, where 58 years ago the liberation of Europe began with the allied invasion.

He went for a solitary walk to pay tribute to the hundreds and hundreds of American servicemen who died during the invasion; visiting the big cemetery at Colleville-Sur-Mer, where 9,300 American servicemen lie buried. The president said each person understood his duty but also dreamed of returning to the people and things he knew.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've gathered on this quiet corner of France as the sun rises on Memorial Day in the United States of America. This is day our country has set apart to remember what was gained in our wars and all that was lost. Our wars have won for us every hour we live in freedom. Our wars have taken from us the men and women we honor today and every hour of the lifetimes they had hoped to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BITTERMANN: The president did not miss the opportunity, as he has consistently throughout this trip, to bring up the war on terrorism, comparing today's sacrifices with those made nearly six decades ago.

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BUSH: For some military families in America and in Europe, the grief is recent with the losses we have suffered in Afghanistan. They can know, however, that the cause is just. And like other generations, these sacrifices have spared many others from tyranny and sorrow. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BITTERMANN: After the speeches, French and American fighter jets flew overhead in a Memorial Day salute to the fallen from D-Day. The president and President Jacques Chirac of France also laid memorial wreaths to those who died on the beaches of Normandy -- Kris.

OSBORN: Jim Bittermann live in Paris bringing us the latest on a Memorial Day celebration and ceremony on the beaches of the D-Day invasion. Thank you very much.

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