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American Morning

Ceremonies on Utah Beach in France Honor D-Day

Aired June 06, 2001 - 10:11   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.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: They've been called the greatest generation, the men and women who sacrificed so much during World War II. Some of the biggest sacrifices were made on the beaches of Normandy 57 years ago today. That's when allied forces launched the largest air, land and sea invasion in history, dealing a devastating blow to Hitler and his plans.

This morning, our Jim Bittermann is on Utah Beach in Normandy, France, for a very special ceremony going on there today. He joins us now live on the phone.

Hello there -- Jim.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Linda.

Yes, this is a ceremony commemorating the 57th anniversary of the D-Day landings, but also has brought together here 47 members of the Easy Company of the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne, who dropped in on Normandy at 1:00 in the morning on D-Day 57 years ago. They are here, marking the production of an HBO series, a 10-part series on their lives and the lives of Easy Company members as they came from Normandy and fought their way through to Germany.

Right now, we're at a part in the ceremony where they're going to be laying wreaths at the end of the ceremony, and Tom Hanks; Jeff Bukes (ph), from HBO; officials from the French government; and a couple of the Easy Company members are going to all lay wreaths at the monument that commemorates the D-Day landings here on Utah Beach -- Linda.

STOUFFER: Jim, when the members of that Easy Company walked in, can you tell us a little bit about the reaction, the welcome, they received?

BITTERMANN: Well, it was quite interesting. It was quite a mixed bag of events happening here. It's sort of Hollywood meets history. Part of it, there's star recognition, of course: Tom Hanks and David Schwimmer are here. But on the other hand, there was some very real emotion among members of Easy Company who are back here for the first time. Some have been back many years, but others are coming for the first time, meeting old friends. There is a 101st Airborne support group here, not very far away from Utah Beach. They were out at the train station as the especially chattered train pulled up. So there were some Hollywood emotions, but some real emotions, as well, as the men of Easy Company came up here. And there have been some very moving speeches this morning. Tom Hanks delivered quite a moving speech, in which he said, We have maybe neglected some of the details in making our films, but the details stay very much alive in the memories of the men who are here. He said, We certainly hope to entertain, but we also want to educate to those who are unaware of the history of the sacrifices made, and we want to the enlighten. But we also want to remind everyone that there was a great human cost involved. And he also said it helps to be a little crazy to come up here, just as the men of the Easy Company were the first time they came to France; he pointed out they were jumping out of airplanes to get here -- Linda.

STOUFFER: Good to see them being honored.

Jim Bittermann, Normandy, France, thank you very much.

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