National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017
Floor Speech
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Mr. TILLIS. Madam President, I am here today to talk about a very important event in American history. Seventy-two years ago today, six American and four British and Canadian divisions began the assault on Adolf Hitler's Fortress Europe, on what German Field Marshal Rommel famously referred to as ``the longest day.''
As the paratroopers moved to their planes and infantrymen embarked on their ships, Dwight Eisenhower reminded them of their cause when he said:
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
North Carolina was at Normandy on that day. At 1:51 a.m., Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division, under the command of MG Matthew Ridgeway and BG James Gavin, began the fight. The paratroopers of the ``All-American Division'' were scattered by bad weather and German anti-aircraft fire, missing many of their designated drop zones. Within hours, though, through sheer guts and determination, the All-American Division had captured towns and crossroads and ensured that the Panzer counterattack did not reach Normandy beaches, allowing the Allied infantry to push into the heart of German-occupied France.
The 82nd Airborne finished the war as the most decorated combat unit in the history of the United States, a distinction that still holds today. The cross-channel invasion fixed Omaha and Utah Beaches for the American assault. ``Bloody Omaha'' was the most difficult of the landing beaches, due to its rough terrain and bluffs fortified by Rommel's infantry division.
Omaha was hit by the U.S. First and 29th Infantry Divisions. The 29th, known as ``The Blue and Gray Division,'' was a National Guard unit composed of men from North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland. In the first wave, A Company, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry, from the Virginia National Guard in Bedford, VA, was annihilated as it landed.
The catastrophic losses suffered by the small Virginia community led it to being selected for the site of the National D-day Memorial. Losses were so heavy that GEN Omar Bradley seriously considered pulling American forces from Omaha Beach. However, follow-on units from the North Carolina National Guard reached that beach, as immortalized in the opening scenes of the movie ``Saving Private Ryan.''
By nightfall, the division headquarters and 10,000 reinforcements landed and began fighting inland. On Omaha Beach, ``uncommon valor was [quite] common'' that day.
By the evening of June 6, over 1,000 men from the 29th had become casualties on Omaha Beach. Added to losses at other beaches and drop zones made the total casualties for Operation Overlord 6,500 Americans and 3,000 British and Canadian soldiers.
During World War II, the 29th Infantry Division had such a high casualty rate it was said that its commanding general actually commanded three divisions: one on the field of battle, one in the hospital, and one in the cemetery. The 29th Infantry Division lost 3,720 killed in action, 15,403 wounded in action, 462 missing in action, 526 prisoners of war, and another 8,665 noncombat casualties, for a total of 28,776 casualties during 242 days of combat.
Today, thousands of North Carolinian guardsmen continue the brave tradition of this proud unit.
The people of North Carolina remember the soldiers of D-day and their comrades from other battlefields of the war. On the Cape Fear River sits the USS North Carolina, the most decorated battleship of World War II. It is not a museum. It is a reminder. It is our memorial. The names of over 10,000 North Carolinians who paid the ultimate price are set on the walls of that great ship. In Franklin Roosevelt's words, ``They fought not for the lust of conquest. They fought to end conquest. They fought to liberate.''
As we observe D-day, I hope we all recognize the ultimate sacrifice so many men and women have paid in uniform, and on the week that we consider the national defense authorization, I hope all of my colleagues will recognize the incredible importance and the debt we owe them to do our job here so that they can continue to defend us abroad. We have to do everything we can to get them safe and prepared and ready to do that mission.
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