World marks D-Day in Normandy

May joins Macron to honor 'a very special generation'

British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron joined hundreds of military veterans in commemorative services on the beaches of Normandy in Northern France early on Thursday morning, to mark the 75th anniversary of the World War II D-Day landings.

D-Day, the invasion of Nazi-occupied France by allied troops, was the largest combined air, sea and land operation in military history, with 156,000 troops landing on five beaches. Launched from the south coast of England, it was one of the decisive events in the history of the war.

On Wednesday, world leaders gathered at Portsmouth in England to mark the launch of the invasion fleet, and Thursday's events marked the troops' landing.

Together with Macron, May - who announced plans to resign as leader of the ruling Conservative Party on Friday - witnessed the laying of the first stone of a memorial being built at the town of Ver-sur-Mer to honor the 22,442 British troops who died there in summer 1944.

'Unconquerable spirit'

Addressing the veterans, now in their nineties, May said she was humbled to be among people who were part of a "very special generation... a generation whose unconquerable spirit shaped the postwar world. They didn't boast. They didn't fuss. They served. And they laid down their lives so that we might have a better life and build a better world.

"If one day can be said to have determined the fate of generations to come in France, in Britain, in Europe and the world," she continued, "that day was June 6, 1944".

Macron added his own tribute, saying "this is where young men, many of whom had never set foot on French soil, landed at dawn under German fire, risking their lives while fighting their way up the beach, which was littered with obstacles and mines".

Later Macron accompanied US President Donald Trump to the US cemetery near Omaha beach, the main US troop landing site. Rather than stay in France, Trump flew in for the event and out again from Ireland, where he went after his high-profile three-day state visit to the UK, which provoked considerable political debate and public protest. His time in Ireland has been no less attention-grabbing.

In a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, Trump compared the crucial Brexit issue of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to the US-Mexican border, where he is trying to build an exclusion wall, saying "I think it will all work out very well, and also for you with your wall, your border, ... I mean, we have a border situation in the United States, and you have one over here. But I hear it's going to work out very well here."

Varadkar then pointed out that the reason why it is such a vital issue is the overwhelming desire to avoid any kind of division, the exact opposite of the Mexican situation, and Trump continued: "I think you do. The way it works now is good, you want to try and to keep it that way. I know that's a big point of contention with respect to Brexit. I'm sure it's going to work out very well. I know they're focused very heavily on it."

Meanwhile, in Washington, talks with the Mexican government about the threat of tariffs being imposed on Mexican goods over immigration control failed to produce any results.

"Further talks with Mexico will resume (on Thursday)," Trump tweeted, "with the understanding that, if no agreement is reached, Tariffs at the 5 percent level will begin on Monday, with monthly increases as per schedule. The higher the Tariffs go, the higher the number of companies that will move back to the USA!"

julian@mail.chinadailyuk.com

(China Daily Global 06/07/2019 page4)