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65th Anniversary of D-Day; President Obama Speaks at American Cemetery in Normandy, France; Investigators Still Searching for Debris of Missing Air France Flight

Aired June 06, 2009 - 09:55   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. Today is the 65th anniversary of D-Day. President Obama is speaking there at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France.

Let's take a listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Why is this? Of all the battles in all the wars across the span of human history, why does this day hold such a revered place in our memory? What is it about the struggle that took place on the sands a few short steps from here that brings us back to remember year after year after year?

Part of it, I think, is the size of the odds that weighed against success. For three centuries, no invader had ever been able to cross the English Channel into Normandy and it had never been more difficult than in 1944.

That was the year that Hitler ordered his top field marshal to fortify the Atlantic Wall against a seaborne invasion. From the tip of Norway to southern France, the Nazis lined steep cliffs with machine guns and artillery. Low-lying areas were flooded to block passage. Sharpened poles awaited paratroopers. Mines were laid on the beaches and beneath the water. And by the time of the invasion, half a million Germans waited for the Allies along the coast between Holland and northern France.

At dawn on June 6, the Allies came. The best chance for victory had been for the British Royal Air Corps to take out the guns on the cliffs while airborne divisions parachuted behind enemy lines. But, all did not go according to plan.

Paratroopers landed miles from their mark, while the fog and clouds prevented Allied planes from destroying the guns on the cliffs. So, when the ships landed here at Omaha, an unimaginable hell rained down on the men inside. Many never made it out of the boats.

And yet, despite all of this, one by one, the Allied forces made their way to shore -- here, and at Utah and Juno; Gold and Sword. They were American, British, and Canadian. Soon, the paratroopers found each other and fought their way back. The Rangers scaled the cliffs. And by the end of the day, against all odds, the ground on which we stand was free once more. The sheer improbability of this victory is part of what makes D- Day so memorable. It also arises from the clarity of purpose with which this war was waged.

We live in a world of competing beliefs and claims about what is true. It's a world of varied religions and cultures and forms of government. In such a world, it's all too rare for a struggle to emerge that speaks to something universal about humanity.

The Second World War did that. No man who shed blood or lost a brother would say that war is good, but all know that this war was essential. For what we faced in Nazi totalitarianism was not just a battle of competing interests, it was a competing vision of humanity. Nazi ideology sought to subjugate and humiliate and exterminate. It perpetrated murder on a massive scale, fueled by a hatred of those who were deemed different and therefore inferior. It was evil.

The nations that joined together to defeat Hitler's Reich were not perfect. They had made their share of mistakes, had not always agreed with one another on every issue. But, whatever God we prayed to, whatever our differences, we knew that the evil we faced had to be stopped. Citizens of all faiths and of no faith came to believe that we could not remain as bystanders to the savage perpetration of death and destruction.

And so we joined and sent our sons to fight and often die so the men and women they never met might know who it is to be free. And America was an endeavor that inspired a nation to action. A president who asked this country to pray on D-Day also asked its citizens to serve and sacrifice to make the invasion possible.

On farms and in factories, millions of men and women worked three shifts a day month after month, year after year. Trucks and tanks came from plants in Michigan and Indiana, New York and Illinois.

Bombers and fighter planes rolled off assembly lines in Ohio and Kansas, where my grandmother did her part as an inspector. Shipyards on both coasts produced the largest fleet in history, including the landing craft from New Orleans that eventually made it here to Omaha.

But despite all the years of planning and preparation, despite the inspiration of our leaders, the skill of our generals, the strength of our fire power, and the unyielding support from our home front, the outcome of the entire struggle would ultimately rest on the success of one day in June.

Lyndon Johnson once said there are certain moments when history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. D-Day was such a moment.

One newspaper noted that we have come to the hour for which we were born. Had the allies failed here, Hitler's occupation of this continent might have continued indefinitely.

Instead victory here secured a foothold in France. It opened a path to Berlin. It made possible the achievements the followed the liberation of Europe, the Marshall Plan, the NATO alliance, the shared prosperity and security that flowed from each.

It was unknowable then, but so much of the prosperity that would define the 20th century on both side of the Atlantic came down to the battle of a slice of beach only six miles long and two miles wide.

More particularly, it came down to the men who landed here, those who now rest in this place for eternity, and those who are with us here today. Perhaps more than any other reason, you, the veterans of that landing, are why we still remember what happened on D-Day. You are why we keep coming back.

For you remind us that in the end, human destiny is not determined by forces beyond our control. You remind us that our future is not shaped by mere chance or circumstance. Our history has always been the sum total of the choices made and the actions taken by each individual man and woman. It has always been up to us.

You could have done what Hitler believed you would do when you arrived here. In the face of a merciless assault from these cliffs, you could have led a boat offshore. Amid the trace of bullets that lit the night sky, you could have stayed in those planes. You could have hid in the hedge groves or waited behind the seawall. You could have done only what was necessary to ensure your arrival.

But that's not what you did. That's not the story you told on D- Day. Your story was written by men like Zain Schlemer (ph) of the 82nd airborn, who parachuted into a dark marsh far from his objective and his men. Lost and alone, he still managed to fight his way through the gunfire and helped to liberate the town in which he landed, a town where a street now bears his name.

It's a story written by men like Anthony Regario (ph), an Army ranger who saw half the men on his landing craft drown when it was hit by shellfire just 1,000 yards off this beach. He spent three hours in freezing water and was one of only 90 rangers to survive out of the 225 that were sent to scale the cliffs.

It's a story written by so many who are no longer with us, like Carlton Barrett. Private Parrett was only supposed to serve as a guide for the first infantry division, but he instead became one of its heroes.

After waded ashore in neck-deep water, he returned to the water again and again and again to save his wounding and drowning comrades. And under the heaviest possible enemy fire, he carried them to safety. He carried them in his own arms.

This is the story of the allied victory. It's the legend of units like Easy Company and the All-American 82nd. It's the tale of the British people whose courage during the blitz forced Hitler to call off the invasion of England, the Canadians who came even though they were never attacked, the Russians, who sustained some of the war's heaviest casualties on the eastern front, and all those French men and women would have rather have died resisting tyranny than live within its grasp. It is the memories that have been passed on to so many of us about the service or sacrifice of a friend or relative. For me, it is my grandfather, Stanley Dunham, who arrived on this beach six weeks after D-Day and marched across Europe in Patton's army, and it is my great uncle, who was part of the first American division to reach and liberate a Nazi concentration camp. His name is Charles Payne, and I'm so proud that he's with us here today.

I know this trip doesn't get any easier as the years pass. But for those of you who make it, there's nothing that could keep you away. One such veteran, a man named Jim Norene (ph), was a member of the 502nd parachute division of the 101st airborne. Last night after visiting the cemetery for one last time, he passed away in his sleep.

Jim was gravely ill when he left his home and he knew that he might not return. But just as he did 65 years ago, he came anyway. May he now rest in peace with the boys he once bled with, and may his family always find solace in the heroism he showed here.

In the end, Jim Norene came back to Normandy for the reason we all came back. He came for the reason articulated by Howard Hootner (ph), another former paratrooper who is here with us here today. When asked why he made the trip, Howard said, "It's important that we tell our stories. It doesn't have to be something big, just a little story about what happened so people don't forget."

So people don't forget. Friends and veterans, we cannot forget. What we must not forget is that D-Day was a time and place where the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century.

It was an hour of maximum danger amid of bleakest of circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found within themselves the ability to do something extraordinary.

They fought for their moms and sweethearts back home, for the fellow warriors they came to know as brothers. And they fought out of a simple sense of duty, a duty sustained by the same ideals for which their countrymen had once fought and bled for over two centuries.

That is the story of Normandy, but also the story of America, of the minutemen who gathered on a green in Lexington, of the Union boys from Maine who repelled the charge at Gettysburg, of the men who gave their last full measure of devotion an Inchon, Khe Sanh, of all the young men and women whose valor and goodness still carried forward this legacy of service and sacrifice.

It's a story that has never come easy, but one that always gives us hope. For as we face down the hardships and struggles of our time and arrive at that hour for which we were born, we cannot help but draw strength from those moments in history when the best among us were somehow able to swallow their fears and secure a beachhead on an unforgiving shore.

To those men who achieved that victory 65 years ago, we thank you for your service. May God bless you, and may God bless the memory of all of those who rest here.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, four of the Normandy veterans who are with us here today will be awarded the Legion of Honor in recognition of bravery. The Legion of Honor is France's highest declaration. It was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.

Today's recipients will be awarded the Order of Officer of the Legion of Honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the presentation of the Legion of Honor to Zain Schlemer (ph) of the United States, Jack Woods of the United Kingdom, Joseph Donroach (ph) of Canada, and Rene Lendiondo (ph) of France.

Military personnel, attention to orders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, President Obama, his royal highness, the Prince of Wales, Prime Minister Brown, Prime Minister Harper, and President Sarkozy will now lay a wreath at the memorial in honor of those who served and those who made the supreme sacrifice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, we now will observe a moment of silence for our fallen brethren.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for our 21- gun salute, the playing of "Taps," and a flyover by the French, British, and U.S. air forces.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in place until the official party has departed the ceremonial area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

NGUYEN: And with that, we are watching the commemoration there at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France, on the 65th anniversary of D-Day. We heard from all the dignitaries, including President Obama speak today. And, of course, listening to "Taps," just so very touching when you think about all the heroic stuff (ph) that was shown on that day.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And you know it is so, to see these veterans, and they talked about, and this might have been the most poignant part of President Obama's speech. He talked about these veterans and how they are a dying breed, essentially. We are losing them, and there are fewer and fewer.

There you see the first lady taking a picture there with a vet. But the president spoke of a man named Jim Norene, a man who he talked about, so many veterans trying to make the trip back, some of them can't make it. But this man came back, died in his sleep after visiting the cemetery for one last time. He said last night he passed away in his sleep after visiting the American Cemetery there one more time.

But Jim Norene is just one of those veterans he talked about, and it's just a special moment to think that this man got to come back and see that cemetery one more time ...

NGUYEN: One last time.

HOLMES: ...and that was the last thing he got to do in his life.

NGUYEN: Well, and President Obama also said that he knew upon embarking on this trip that he was very ill, and that he may not make it back from, you know, that one last trip visit, that one last visit to this place of hallowed ground, a place where so many lives were lost, but so much was accomplished when it came to the turning point in World War II.

And we're watching as the dignitaries, President Obama right there, mingling with veterans today. This is quite a day marked by so many special events. But listening to those stories, listening to what these veterans have gone through, it really brings home the efforts that were made on that day, and the sacrifices that were made on that day.

We spoke with a veteran a little bit earlier today on this show who pretty much recapped what it was like to jump out of an airplane. He was a paratrooper, and landing on the beaches there, and the fighting that he saw, and just the danger that they faced.

HOLMES: And we have been watching this for some time, and watching the ceremony. But it's one thing here. You can be moved by watching it on the television no matter where you are in the U.S., but it's a different story to actually be there.

We want to bring in Dan Lothian, who is there. Dan, we know it's your job to cover the stories, but if you can, give us a little flavor of just what it was like to be there, to be in there and in that moment with all those veterans around on that hallowed ground.

Our Dan Lothian is there. We're told we had him on the line. We'll try to get him back up to get a little more flavor of what it was like to be in there during the ceremony. What's happening now, all the dignitaries and the leaders, the president of United States along with the president of France, the British and Canadian prime ministers. Also, Prince Charles there as well representing Great Britain.

Dan Lothian, I'm told, we now have now on the phone. Dan, I don't know if you heard my question originally, but I was just asking you, it's one thing for our viewers and for us to sit and watch this from where we are here in the U.S., but what was it like to be in there during that ceremony?

NGUYEN: All right, we're having some more technical difficulties with Dan Lothian, who indeed is there.

As we watch them file out of the American cemetery on this 65th anniversary of D-Day, please stay here. There's much more to come as we continue to cover this special day. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Taking you back now live to Normandy, France, the American cemetery ceremonies there, where the commemorations, celebrations, ceremonies have just wrapping up on this 65th anniversary of D-Day.

You see French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife there shaking hands and meeting with the people there, and especially the veterans there, many of them who have come out to be a part of today's commemoration. And it's a harking back to all the heroics that were displayed on this very day some 65 years ago.

Our Dan Lothian is on the scene. He joins us now live by phone. We've been trying to get in contact with you, Dan, had some technical difficulties. But I think the main thing that a lot of us, especially here in the U.S. want to know, it's one thing to watch this on television, it's one thing to hear the stories, but what is it like to actually be there?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: To be here is really to be part of what was a powerful and emotional celebration and ceremony. Just to hear the various words of the speakers, to hear the words of the veterans who are getting up in age now talking about landing here on Omaha beach, and then sort of the pomp and circumstance of the event, with a 21-gun salute and the flyover by the military jets. It's a real powerful moment here today, Betty.

NGUYEN: And President Obama spoke in depth about several veterans that not only served, but one, in fact, who came there to the cemetery one last time. He made a difficult journey, a man who was not in the best of health, but it, in fact, was his last trip to the cemetery.

Talk to us about that.

LOTHIAN: That's right. And not just that man, but also others who said, you know, they had come here, and this was sort of the final chapter. They needed to come here one last time.

And, again, as I pointed out, they're up in age, and it's doubtful that you will see so many of these World War II veterans assembled here at the next big anniversary. So this really is a special anniversary, (INAUDIBLE) the other ones we've seen over the past five and even ten years or so.

I also, Betty, wanted to point out some remarks of the remarks by the various leaders who took part in the ceremony today. You talked about President Obama, and one of the things that stood out when he said no man who shed blood or lost a brother would say that war was good. But all know that this war was essential.

From British Prime Minister Brown, who said this marked the triumph of right over wrong. And Canadians Prime Minister Harper, he said that this is a reminder that our peace and prosperity came with a price.

And President Sarkozy of France talked about the sacrifice, the courage of these young, some of whom where 19 or 20 years old. And he said we will never forget the blood that was shed -- powerful word coming from these world leaders today.

NGUYEN: Yes, no doubt. Also, we saw today Prince Charles. In fact, there's an interesting story behind Prince' attendance there today and an invitation to the queen that, perhaps, came at a late moment. Talk to us about that.

LOTHIAN: That's right. It had cause a bit of rumble here between France and Britain. In the British press, there was a lot made over France snubbing the Queen, and France saying that is simply not the case, they were just following protocol, but she was free to come.

By then, the Queen, who said she wanted to be invited, did not come. Instead, Prince Charles was added to the program just this week. So it appears that any hard feelings have been put aside and Prince Charles representing the royal family here today.

NGUYEN: We're watching live pictures right now of people filing out of the American cemetery there in Normandy, France. Give us an idea of what's on the president's agenda from here on.

LOTHIAN: The president has pretty much wrapped up taking part in the ceremony here today. You saw when he came here, had meetings with Sarkozy, and he also toured the visitor's center, went to the overlook area looking down on Omaha beach.

He will be headed back to Paris. We're told he might have some private events with family members tomorrow. His wife is here, first lady, Mrs. Obama here, as well, as their two daughters are here. So they might have a private moment tomorrow and then will be headed back to the U.S. tomorrow.

NGUYEN: All right, Dan Lothian joining us live there at the American cemetery in Normandy, France. Dan, thank you so much for that.

We do continue to follow this story. In fact, as we reflect on the president's words this morning, the men who jumped, waded, even marched onto Normandy's shores can still hear the gunfire that is now 65-years-old.

HOLMES: And one man we have been talking to this morning is 85- year-old Guy Whidden, and he joins us once again. Good to see you again, Guy. So, tell me, what was it like for you listening to the comments from President Obama?

NGUYEN: Guy, can you hear us?

GUY WHIDDEN, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: I'm trying to tune this thing up. All right.

NGUYEN: Guy, the question was -- can you hear us now?

WHIDDEN: I got it. I'm OK.

NGUYEN: Very good. We're very happy that you're with us here today. You were only 20 years old when you parachuted from a plane on this day onto the beaches there in Normandy.

And, as T.J. was asking, you listened to the president just moments ago. What's your reaction to what he had to say today?

WHIDDEN: Regarding the president's speech?

NGUYEN: Yes.

WHIDDEN: Well, he's very eloquent, and I think he did an excellent job of covering everything. It's very difficult to cover everything, and he did quite well.

He gave credit to a lot of us, and I think that he might have mentioned, and maybe I missed it, the glider troops as well as the second armored division, which were very effective in our area.

But I think he did a great job. There's always a few little minor mistakes, things that we are critical of because we define something a little differently than what he might.

I think he mentioned dawn is when we came in on the beaches and parachuted in. Actually, we came in around 1:00 a.m. in the morning. It was pretty dark, and they hit the beaches. But that's OK, little things like that. But I think he did an excellent job.

HOLMES: Guy, before we let you go, one more question -- just your thoughts on losing so many of your brothers. We talk about it being, you're all kind of a dying breed. A lot of guys are getting older with health problems, and just your thoughts on losing so many of you guys and you all being kind of a dying breed.

WHIDDEN: Are you referring to the gentleman who -- I'm not hearing that question quite clearly. HOLMES: That's all right, just asking about your thought about you all World War II vets dwindling in numbers.

WHIDDEN: My thoughts about ...

HOLMES: I think we're having an issue here. Guy, we're having a few issues with our earpieces there. You're not able to hear us too well.

But we do appreciate Guy. He spent some time with us this morning, an 85-year-old recalling his story of storming those beaches, jumping out of planes, the paratroopers, only about 300 feet up.

NGUYEN: And, like he said, it happened over night, so when you landed, you really didn't know what you were going to face when you got on solid ground. But we do appreciate Guy's time this morning and do appreciate his service as well.

We're going to continue to cover the 65th anniversary of D-Day. There's so much more, including the latest news today. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Just minutes ago in Normandy, France, President Obama addressed thousands gathered to remember the sacrifices of those who died during the D-Day invasion.

HOLMES: We were reminded that the bravery of those troops changed the entire course of the 20th century. Here's more of what he said just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The nations that joined together to defeat Hitler's Reich were not perfect. They made their share of mistakes, did not always agree with one another on every issue.

But whatever god we pray to, whatever our differences, we knew that the evil we faced had to be stopped. Citizens of all faiths and of no faith came to believe that we could not remain as bystanders to the savage perpetration of death and destruction. And so we joined and sent our sons to fight and often die so that men and women they never met might know what it is to be free.

That is the story of Normandy, but also the story of America, of the minutemen who gathered on a green in Lexington, of the Union boys from Maine who repelled the charge at Gettysburg, of the men who gave their last full measure of devotion at Inchon and Khe Sanh, of all the young men and women whose valor and goodness still carried forward this legacy of goodness and sacrifice.

It's a story that has never come easy, but one that always gives us hope. For as we face down the hardships and struggles of our time and arrive for that hour for which we were born, we cannot help but draw strength from those moments in history when the best among us were somehow able to swallow their fears and secure a beachhead on an unforgiving shore.

For those men who achieved that victory 65 years ago, we thank you for your service. May god bless you, and may god bless the memory of all those who rest here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right, the president has had a busy day. He's trying to make his way -- I think I'm looking at this picture over here live -- trying to make his way out of that ceremony. We've been watching him since this morning. He had really a full day, starting at around 6:00 a.m. eastern time.

Here he is. You can see him through some the bushes, shrubbery, and trees, but shaking hands and making his way out. There you see the first lady of France and her husband, everybody is making their way after this ceremony, Tom Hanks there, as we mentioned a bit earlier as well.

We've been watching these two, but these aren't the only two Obamas there. They brought along the kids.

NGUYEN: They did. The First Lady Michelle and the two girls also along for this trip. In fact, Marine One is expected to leave the American Cemetery where a commemoration for D-Day soldiers was taking place there.

Now, the president leaves France tomorrow, but his two girls are expected to say until at least Monday.

HOLMES: They will be chaperoned, so let's clear that up.

NGUYEN: In the meantime, though, there is other news to tell you about. And I want to tell you about this. In fact, they're still searching for debris and, in fact, answers in the disappearance of Air France flight 447.

Other aircraft and ships are scouring a huge area north of Brazil, looking for any sign of that plane. They have only 24 more days until the beacons on the flight data recorders go silent.

Investigators still don't know what caused the plane's problems, but at a news conference just a few hours ago early this morning, they talked about automated error messages received from the plane, and one indicated the plane may have been flying at the wrong speed for the rough weather.

Now, air speed indicators on the plane were supposed to be replaced but were not. This could be crucial. Another one of those automated messages said the auto pilot was turned off.

HOLMES: So 29 children dead at a fire at a daycare center in Mexico. This happened in Hermosillo is the name of the town. This is about 160 miles from the U.S. border, all of the children under the age of five. We're told possibly even 100 more people were injured. The fire had spread from a warehouse next door. Firefighters broke through the walls of the daycare center to try to get the kids out. Some of those injured children being treated at a hospital in Sacramento, California.

Also, a desperate search going on in China, 80 people could be buried under rubble. Southwestern China is where we'll take you and show you these pictures.

Some of that on your left side just gives you an idea of where it with the map on the right. But on the left is the picture there. They have 80 people, we believe. The dust you are seeing there was from a large landslide. There were a dozen homes at the bottom of the mountain.

Rescuers admit there is little chance most of the people survived the slide. But a couple dozen miners in an underground mine in that area that they believe may still be alive.

NGUYEN: Back here in U.S., we want to get you up to speed on the weather outside. Reynolds Wolf has been watching it for us, and he joins us now. Hey, Reynolds, how is it looking?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It looks pretty good for anything you want to do outside unless you're hoping to get out in parts of the Midwest, you could run into rain this morning.

In fact, up to seven to nine inches of precipitation in south Florida caused minor flooding in the city. Still plenty of people without power, they hope to restore that soon.

But even into Alligator Alley, you have cloudy skies, showers a possibility through the afternoon. You have that area of low pressure and right along that dividing line, you're going to be dealing with some storms.

However, when you get farther north, New York and Belmont, expect a mix of sunshine and clouds, very slick muddy conditions the last couple days, but it looks like it will be better as you make your way through the midday hours. Snowfall into the north and central Rockies in the highest elevations.

In terms of your temperatures, it really depends on where you happen to be. In Dallas, 93 is the expected high, 73 in Chicago, 79 in our nation's capitol, 84 in Miami. However it will drop some ten degrees as we get to the afternoon hours.

You are up to speed in terms of all things weather. Let's give it back to you guys.

NGUYEN: Thank you, Reynolds.

HOLMES: And Reynolds was talking about the possibility of how the track was going to be for the Belmont stakes. That's coming up in a few hours. People who the Kentucky Derby were wondering if the horse will be the Triple Crown winner. Not the case this year. The actual jockey could be the Triple Crown winner.

NGUYEN: Which is very interesting, because a lot of people may not know that these jockeys can change horses. They're not just stuck with just one.

HOLMES: Not the case.

NGUYEN: And you see Calvin Burrell right there. He could become the first to win all three Triple Crown races without being on the same horse for all three of them.

HOLMES: He's on Mine that Bird for this race, the Belmont. He rode Rachel Alexander, the filly to the Preakness win a few weeks back, and then he was also on Mine that Bird for the Kentucky Derby which he, of course, won. So he is swapping horses. Who knows if mine that bird could have been a Triple Crown winner if he had been on that horse.

NGUYEN: So it's his fault. No, we're kidding.

HOLMES: We could see a Triple Crown winner of another sort.

NGUYEN: It's going to be interesting, all right.

Up next, the doors could close on the National D-Day Memorial if it doesn't get more donations and fast. The soldiers survived World War II, but can their legacy survive an economic crisis? We'll have the story on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We got a lot of D-Day stories we're hearing today. You need to see this one. This is a good one, and it comes from our very own Susan Lisovicz. She is usually manning the Stock Exchange and working on Wall Street. But in this one, she gets to sit down with her very own uncle who is a war hero who was among those who stormed the beach at Normandy.

NGUYEN: In Houston, in fact. And he reminisces for the first time at length about the longest day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All my life, I've known that my uncle Lenny is a war hero, but he never wanted to talk about it.

LT. LEONARD LISOVICZ (RET), D-DAY SURVIVOR: I tried to rub that out of my mind, but it won't go away.

S. LISOVICZ: What won't go away is the chaotic scene 65 years ago on a sliver of sand thousands of miles away. His was a 26 year old lieutenant when he stormed Omaha beach. The first word came from his captain.

L. LISOVICZ: He said, this is the real thing. Let's see what you can do. That was it. So you hit the beach. S. LISOVICZ: But the Germans hit back.

L. LISOVICZ: They had to pinpoint. It was just like shooting ducks on a park. Your comrades' artillery busted, a hand flying here, a leg there, buts laying out on the ground. They're just asking for help, and you couldn't help them. You had to move. You just had to push them aside.

S. LISOVICZ (on camera): You lost so many men. Were you ever scared?

L. LISOVICZ: Nobody can tell me that you don't fear going up against a man you've never seen in your life and look them in the eye and know you're going to kill them.

S. LISOVICZ (voice-over): But the Nazis held a superior position. Then uncle Lenny said help came from above.

L. LISOVICZ: At times there were so many planes in the sky, you couldn't see the sky. You could see them forming from all directions coming into one pattern. And that's how we got off the beach, darling. We found a paratrooper, but they were all dead. They massacred them in the field.

S. LISOVICZ: From that beach, my uncle fought all the way to Germany. He started with 220 men but says only 22 made it back home alive. My uncle returned with many medals for his service, including the prestigious Silver Star for his valor in the battlefield.

(on camera): What does it mean now when you look at it?

L. LISOVICZ: I don't care for it. I did the walk, baby. I did the walk.

S. LISOVICZ: You don't need to do the talk?

L. LISOVICZ: That's right.

S. LISOVICZ (voice-over): But I finally convinced Lieutenant Leonard Lisovicz, my uncle Lenny, at 91, to do the talk. After 65 years, it was time.

Susan Lisovicz, CNN, Houston, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: What a touching story. And, yes, it is time to hear them. We've been talking about they're a dying breed, they're getting up in age, and you don't want those stories to go silent.

HOLMES: It's something the president mentioned in his speech in Normandy today, talking about YCOM, some of these veterans. He said it's important no matter how small the story is. Just tell the story so people will not forget. So it's a good day for those stories.

Today, coming up here, still talking about these D-Day veterans, some who couldn't make it to Normandy still not being forgotten.

NGUYEN: Not at all. We're going to take you to a thrilling air and land tribute planned in Washington, D.C. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: As we look back on D-Day, I want to tell you about this. Non-profit organizations everywhere, in fact, they're hurting because of the economy.

HOLMES: We've learned now that a memorial dedicated to World War II veterans is in jeopardy of closing. CNN's Kate Bolduan explains now that its primary base of support is literally dying off.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The small town of Bedford, Virginia, suffered among the country's greatest losses on D-Day. Out of a population of just 3,200, 19 soldiers from this community died in the invasion. That's why the National D-Day Memorial was opened here in 2001.

MILLS HOBBS, D-DAY VETERAN: This is black, this is Zorfus (ph), this is Cochran (ph).

BOLDUAN: Eighty-seven-year-old Mills Hobbs is one of the few surviving men of the 115th infantry. He remembers the invasion in vivid detail.

HOBBS: You didn't know where any bullet was coming from or any shell was coming from, what direction, aimed at who, or nothing. You only knew that you could be the subject that it was seeking 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

BOLDUAN: But now the very memorial honoring Hobbs and the thousands of other soldiers who fought that day could itself be lost, a victim of a struggling economy.

ROBIN HALSEY, DAUGHTER D-DAY VETERAN: I know things are tight because of the recession, but everybody should throw in a little bit to keep this monument open. It is absolutely fabulous.

BOLDUAN: The memorial is privately funded, and donations, which make up more than half of its funding, are way down. The foundaton's president says the situation is dire.

WILLIAM MCINTOSH, PRESIDENT, D-DAY MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: Obviously, this is something that nobody wants, and it's something nobody wants to contemplate on the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

BOLDUAN: So he's begging for help, approaching universities about taking it over, but no luck.

Congressman Tom Perriello, who represents Bedford, introduced a bill this week to transfer the site to the National Park Service, but that could take years, and time is something the memorial and its biggest base of support, World War II veterans, don't have.

HOBBS: We were just like brothers. We would stand up for one another no matter what.

BOLDUAN: Mills Hobbs says it's memories like he hopes live on, memorial or not.

HOBBS: I hope they learn that freedom ain't free, and that they'll never forget it, never forget it.

BOLDUAN: Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. From CNN world headquarters here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen.

HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.

We have been following this morning of tribute and salute.

That's flyover there just part of the huge ceremony happening in Normandy, France today to honor those who fought and died just 65 years ago today.