Commemorating the 74th Anniversary of D-Day

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on the 74th anniversary of the Allied D-Day invasion of France to honor the bravery of our Armed Forces who served in that operation.

73,000 Americans took part in Operation Overlord on June 6, 1944. This operation secured a beachhead on the European continent that began the liberation of France and then the rest of Western Europe.

Sadly, the United States suffered more than 6,000 casualties in this operation. Ultimately, thousands more U.S. servicemembers would fall in the coming weeks and months liberating the rest of Western Europe from German control.

The courage, bravery, and sacrifice displayed by our military on this day continues to serve as an example for the cost of freedoms that we enjoy in the United States today.

Mr. Speaker, I recently had the honor and the privilege of attending a wreath-laying ceremony on Omaha Beach in Normandy at the Normandy American Cemetery in France.

This memorial serves as a constant reminder to the world that the United States will fight and die to protect the freedoms of not just American citizens, but for citizens around the globe.

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