Presidents commemorate 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings
U.S. President Barack Obama and French President, Francois Hollande, in the company of twenty heads of state and government commemorated today, June 6, the 70th anniversary of the Allied Disembark that ended the Nazi occupation during World War II on the beaches of Normandy .
The event had a national celebration chaired by President Hollande in the Caen Memorial in tribute to the 20,000 civilian casualties of the Battle of Normandy.
Obama was later received by Hollande in the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, where 10,000 U.S. soldiers lie, for a homage to those fighters who died on June 6, 1944.
“Today we celebrate a memorable date in our history in which our two nations joined together in the same battle, the freedom,” noted Hollande.
It is scheduled that Hollande, Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Queen Elizabeth II of England meet for an official lunch with veterans at Castle Bénouville, a symbolic place of resistance.