Obama praises D-Day bravery, selflessness

COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France, June 6 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama says "bravery and selflessness" marked the D-Day invasion of France by Allied forces during World War II.

Speaking at a U.S. war cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, overlooking the Normandy beach that was codenamed Omaha for the massive June 6, 1944, assault, Obama praised the ultimate sacrifices of the U.S. and Allied troops on D-Day, which happened 65 years ago Saturday, the BBC reported.

"Friends and veterans, what we cannot forget -- what we must not forget -- is that D-Day was a time and a place where the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century," he said. "At an hour of maximum danger, amid the bleakest of circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found it within themselves to do the extraordinary."

Also present at the ceremony was French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who reportedly thanked the Allies for the 215,000 casualties they suffered in their push to liberate France and Western Europe from the grip of German Nazis, and the Americans in particular for their bravery at Omaha Beach.

"I want to say thank you to the survivors of this tragedy who are here today with us... We owe you our freedom," the British broadcaster quoted Sarkozy saying. "Because of the blood in your veins you are a symbol of the America we love."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also recalled the sacrifices made by the Allies on D-Day, while elderly veterans of the Normandy landing were in attendance at the memorial cemetery, the BBC said.

Earlier Saturday, Britain's Prince Charles and Brown appeared at Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy at a remembrance hosted by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon. Brown laid a wreath to honor the fallen among the 130,000 Allied soldiers who landed at Normandy on D-Day.