Photo by Jeff Stoffer

American Legion National Commander David K. Rehbein joined world leaders in France June 6 at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial near Omaha Beach to honor the memory of D-Day and the U.S.-led invasion that liberated Europe from Nazi Germany during World War II.

"I think the leaders of the four allied countries ¬ France, Great Britain, Canada and the United States did an excellent job representing their people, their veterans and expressing the true meaning of D-Day," Rehbein said following ceremonies to commemorate the 65th anniversary of history's largest amphibious assault, and the beginning of the end of World War II.

An estimated 288 D-Day veterans shared the stage at the event with U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Prince Charles and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Great Britain, and Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The heads of state arrived by helicopter at the hallowed cemetery where 9,387 American heroes of World War II are laid to rest.

Obama, Brown, Harper and Sarkozy each spoke of the united effort required to vanquish Hitler's Germany and what it meant for the future. "We live in a world of competing beliefs and claims about what is true," President Obama said. "It's a world of varied religions and cultures and forms of government. In such a world, it's all too rare for a struggle to emerge that speaks to something universal about humanity ... The Second World War did that. No man who shed blood or lost a brother would say that war is good. But all know that this war was essential. For what we faced in Nazi totalitarianism was not just a battle of competing interests. It was a competing vision of humanity."
President Sarkozy noted that the Allied victory at Normandy was achieved by young soldiers from many countries "far from their homelands with an admirable courage against a pitiless enemy, as if the fate of their own fatherland were at stake ... They fought for a cause they knew was larger than their life. Not one retreated. One cannot cite them all, these heroes to whom we owe so much."

During the anniversary weekend, Rehbein and American Legion Auxiliary President Desiree Stoy placed wreaths in Ste. Mere-Eglise, first French town liberated by the Allies; at LaFiere Bridge, where one of the war's bloodiest small-arms battles was fought shortly after D-Day; and at the Omaha Beach cemetery. The American Legion ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery had to wait until the morning of June 7, due to the presidential speeches on June 6. However, the shift in schedule paved the way for the commander to meet with members of the Holland, Mich., American Legion Band. The band had raised money to travel to France and perform at several ceremonies across Normandy during the anniversary week. They gave a concert immediately after Rehbein and Stoy laid their wreaths beneath the famed statue, "Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves."

The commander said he was deeply struck by the reception American veterans received in Normandy. "I am especially impressed with the French people I have met and the gratitude and respect they continue to demonstrate for Allied sacrifices during the war," he said.

Stoy said the culture of gratitude was visible at the Omaha Beach ceremony on June 6. "There was a French woman seated near the national commander who turned to him at least three times to say thank you," Stoy said. "It was really heartfelt."

Four days in Normandy capped an official European visit for Rehbein and Stoy who were also in Germany for meetings with African and European commands, and with Landstuhl Army Medical Center officials.

On June 9, Rehbein and Stoy traveled to Belgium to place wreaths at Flanders Field American Cemetery in Waregem. There, they also visited memorial sites in the Ypres region where U.S. soldiers were instrumental in forcing a victorious end to World War I.