President Obama says Normandy changed course of history

OMAHA BEACH, France — Recalling the "unimaginable hell” of D-Day suffering, President Barack Obama paid tribute Saturday to the against-all-odds Allied landings that broke Nazi Germany’s grip on France and turned the tide of history.

"The sheer improbability of this victory is part of what makes D-Day so memorable,” Obama said.

He spoke under a sunny sky at the American Cemetery on cliffs overlooking Omaha Beach and other landing sites where American, British and Canadian soldiers established a beachhead 65 years ago under the withering fire of Nazi troops awaiting the Allies’ cross-channel gamble.

Normandy’s cliffs, still pocked with gun emplacements and other remnants of the war, including the white headstones of thousands of buried American troops, provided sure footing for the U.S. commander in chief.

"Friends and veterans, what we cannot forget — what we must not forget — is that D-Day was a time and a place where the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century,” he said.

"At an hour of maximum danger, amid the bleakest of circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found it within themselves to do the extraordinary.”

This D-Day anniversary assumed special significance because veterans of the battle are reaching their 80s and 90s and their numbers are dwindling. One American veteran, Jim Norene, returned to France for Saturday’s ceremony, but died Friday night.

"Jim was gravely ill when he left his home,” Obama said. "But just as he did 65 years ago, he came anyway. May he now rest in peace ... and may his family always find solace in the heroism he showed here.”




by the associated press

Obama to attend Normandy ceremony

MACUNGIE, Pa. — Nathan Kline wrapped a white monogrammed scarf around his neck and placed a bulletproof prayer book in his left shirt pocket. He’d followed the same routine for all of his previous bombing runs over Europe, but the teenager from Allentown, Pa., knew there was nothing routine about this mission.

Nothing routine at all about this day, June 6, 1944 — D-Day.

More excited than nervous, Kline squeezed his small frame into the cramped Plexiglas nose of a B-26 Marauder and took off from an English base, joining thousands of his airborne mates over the English Channel. His destination: Normandy, France, where 50,000 German troops awaited the Allied invasion.

Now 84, Kline still has the scarf, the prayer book, and many other artifacts and honors from his role in the epic battle that turned the tide of World War II. In a few days, he’ll add one more award to his already crowded wall: the French Legion of Honor medal.

Fifty Americans, 15 Canadians and 10 British veterans of World War II will receive France’s highest award during a ceremony today in Paris, then head to Normandy on Saturday to mark the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings. President Barack Obama will attend Saturday’s ceremony with his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, along with Britain’s Prince Charles.

The French say this year’s ceremony is intended primarily as a U.S.-French event, rather than a full-blown remembrance of the Allied effort like those held on the 50th and 60th anniversaries.

About 160,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of occupied France on D-Day, opening up a second European front and setting the stage for Nazi Germany’s defeat. More than 9,000 Allied troops were killed or wounded.




by the associated press

Russia is thankful for sacrifices in WWII

MOSCOW — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signaled support Friday for legislation that would make it a crime to belittle the Soviet Union’s contribution to the Allied victory in World War II.

Medvedev warned against questioning the sacrifices and achievements of the Soviet Union during the war, which killed at least 27 million people in the nation.

"We will never forget that our country, the Soviet Union, made the decisive contribution to the outcome of the Second World War, that it was precisely our people who destroyed Nazism, determined the fate of the whole world — and paid an incredible price for it,” Medvedev said in a Kremlin speech on the eve of Russia’s Victory Day holiday marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

Medvedev’s reference to the Soviet Union as "our country” reflected the Russian leadership’s pride in the nation’s Soviet-era history — viewed in a more negative light in many other countries — and appealed to a similar pride among many Russians.



by the associated press

Tattoos from camp Survivors Reunited

As terrified teenagers 65 years ago, Menachen Scholowics and Anshel Sieradkzi stood in line together in Auschwitz, havng serial numbers tattooed on their arms. Sholowics was B-14594; Sieradki was B-14595. The two polish Jews were quickly separated. . Each survived the Nazi death camp, moved to Israel , married and became grandfathers. They did not meet again until a few weeks ago, having stumbled upon each other through the internet. " we are blood brothrs" Sieradzki, 81. The twist of fate doesn't end there. Two brothers who were with them in the tattooist's line have made contact since hearing their story. Shaul Zawadzki and his older brother Yaakov, serial numbers B-14596and B-14597, too survived Auschwitz and made it to Isreal.

Yaakov Zawadzki, 82, joined Sholowicz and Sieradzki for the reunion Sunday at Isreal's holocaust memorial Yad Vashem. The unikely reconnection began when Sholowicz's daughter found a wed site that detailed Sieradzki's odyssey from Auschwitz to isreal. it struck her as eerily similar to her father's.

All the same elements were there - being separated from there parents and sibings and never seeing them again, searching for scraps of bread to eat in the Polish ghettos, surviving the selection process of Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous Auschwitz camp doctor who decided who would live and who would die. they endured Nazi marches to two other camps in which any prisoner who fell behind was shot in the head. Later, both moved to Isreal and made careers in its military industry.

Still, the name Sieradzki on the web site didn't ring a bell. Then Sholowicz, 80 saw the man's number and he froze. Sholowicz said he never noticed the others in line with him at Auschwitz. Those too old, too young or too ill were sent to the gas chambers and the crematoria. Those fit enough to work were tattooed and forced into labor. "our fate was to be together either in life or in death," Sholowicz said.

by the associated press