In light of France' recent perfidy, it's all the more important to somberly note what happened fifty nine years ago today.

Remember Omaha, Utah, Sword, Gold, Juno--names that should, and probably will echo down the ages with Hastings, Waterloo, Gettysburg, Verdun, Iwo Jima and their likes.

[Update at 9:27 AM PDT]

Here's Reagan's speech commemorating the fortieth anniversary.

When men like Private Zanatta and all our Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy 40 years ago they came not as conquerors, but as liberators. When these troops swept across the French countryside and into the forests of Belgium and Luxembourg they came not to take, but to return what had been wrongfully seized. When our forces marched into Germany they came not to prey on a brave and defeated people, but to nurture the seeds of democracy among those who yearned to be free again.

We salute them today. But, Mr. President [Francois Mitterand of France], we also salute those who, like yourself, were already engaging the enemy inside your beloved country -- the French Resistance. Your valiant struggle for France did so much to cripple the enemy and spur the advance of the armies of liberation. The French Forces of the Interior will forever personify courage and national spirit. They will be a timeless inspiration to all who are free and to all who would be free.

Chirac and his minions should be ashamed, but they won't be.

I wonder if there will be a presidential visit to Normandy next year, for the sixtieth? Probably, unfortunately, it being hot in campaign season. Hopefully, unlike Clinton nine years ago, he won't fake a photo op with stones on the beach.