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D-Day Remembered

Aired June 06, 2003 - 15:16   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Fifty-nine years ago today, allied troops stormed the beaches at Normandy, France, in the invasion code named D-Day. Today as they do every year, veterans who participated in that historic battle gather to remember their shared sacrifices.
CNN's Jim Bittermann has more on today's ceremonies and the impact of the more recent friction between the U.S. and the French governments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As every June 6 for nearly six decades, old allies stood together. All over Normandy, French officials and their fellow countryman greeted gratitude representatives of those nations who came to their rescue, and those who died to win their freedom.

All over Normandy flags flew together. And no less than three members of the French government were here to meet the U.S. ambassador to Paris who came to lay wreathes. Any suggestion that France has somehow forgotten the debt owed the dead who lie here does not square with reality. Any notion that the dispute over Iraq still divides France and the U.S., according to the ambassador, is incorrect.

HOWARD LEACH, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE: France and the united states have done many good things together. And I think we're going to keep right on doing them.

BITTERMANN: At the huge American cemetery just behind Omaha Beach where the Americans landed in 1944, old veterans and young ones were forgetting the problems of the recent past and remembering the collaborations of a more distant one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand France's position. I know they still love the American people and for what they did and everything and they disagree with our political viewpoints of our president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see by what's going on here today, with the anniversary of D-Day, there's nothing that's changed.

BITTERMANN: Late in the afternoon the French prime minister came himself to pay honor to the American dead. French and American officials following the lead established by the presidents of the economic summit earlier this week, in determination display good will.

But others in Paris and Washington have been saying trust will take much longer to rebuild. And it will be even more difficult to reconcile the dramatically different world visions held by the U.S. and some of its allies.

BITTERMANN (on camera): Since the war, which left these soldiers here, France and other countries have been encouraged by Washington to avoid conflict by sharing national sovereignty through institutions like the European Union and the United Nations. As a French ambassador said recently, it's what his country and others have come to accept as the only way for nations to get along.

(voice-over): If some U.S. foreign policymakers continue to believe otherwise, not only France but many other countries seem ever destined to disagree.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Colversomare (ph), France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired June 6, 2003 - 15:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Fifty-nine years ago today, allied troops stormed the beaches at Normandy, France, in the invasion code named D-Day. Today as they do every year, veterans who participated in that historic battle gather to remember their shared sacrifices.
CNN's Jim Bittermann has more on today's ceremonies and the impact of the more recent friction between the U.S. and the French governments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As every June 6 for nearly six decades, old allies stood together. All over Normandy, French officials and their fellow countryman greeted gratitude representatives of those nations who came to their rescue, and those who died to win their freedom.

All over Normandy flags flew together. And no less than three members of the French government were here to meet the U.S. ambassador to Paris who came to lay wreathes. Any suggestion that France has somehow forgotten the debt owed the dead who lie here does not square with reality. Any notion that the dispute over Iraq still divides France and the U.S., according to the ambassador, is incorrect.

HOWARD LEACH, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE: France and the united states have done many good things together. And I think we're going to keep right on doing them.

BITTERMANN: At the huge American cemetery just behind Omaha Beach where the Americans landed in 1944, old veterans and young ones were forgetting the problems of the recent past and remembering the collaborations of a more distant one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand France's position. I know they still love the American people and for what they did and everything and they disagree with our political viewpoints of our president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see by what's going on here today, with the anniversary of D-Day, there's nothing that's changed.

BITTERMANN: Late in the afternoon the French prime minister came himself to pay honor to the American dead. French and American officials following the lead established by the presidents of the economic summit earlier this week, in determination display good will.

But others in Paris and Washington have been saying trust will take much longer to rebuild. And it will be even more difficult to reconcile the dramatically different world visions held by the U.S. and some of its allies.

BITTERMANN (on camera): Since the war, which left these soldiers here, France and other countries have been encouraged by Washington to avoid conflict by sharing national sovereignty through institutions like the European Union and the United Nations. As a French ambassador said recently, it's what his country and others have come to accept as the only way for nations to get along.

(voice-over): If some U.S. foreign policymakers continue to believe otherwise, not only France but many other countries seem ever destined to disagree.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Colversomare (ph), France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com