Freedom must never be taken for granted

OPINION:

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On a group trip to Normandy last summer, we played President Ronald Reagan’s solemn words spoken at Pointe Du Hoc to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe. 

President Reagan began, “We’re here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy, the rescue began. Here, the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.”

”We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here, and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.”

”The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers — the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.”

”Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there.” 

“These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.”

Those words stuck with me as Tonette and I walked through the rows and rows of white granite Latin crosses and Stars of David marking the graves of the 9,388 buried at the Normandy American Cemetery. In total, 4,414 died during the D-Day Invasion alone—2,501 were Americans. In my home State of Wisconsin alone, 49 men died on June 6, 1944.  

I visited the Wisconsin Veterans Home in Chippewa Falls a decade ago to commemorate the 70th anniversary.  As I greeted veterans, one of them told me he was there. He lifted his shirt and showed me each of the four spots where he was hit. He was one of the 5,000 wounded that day. That veteran told me that he was one of the lucky ones as he returned home and had a good life. I told him we were lucky, as people like him were willing to risk their lives to protect our freedoms. 

Walking through the cemetery and looking over the remains of the bunkers above the beach, it is amazing that any of the Allied forces made it up to the top. Their courage and determination are legendary, and we honor their memory again on this day. 

As devastating as the loss of life was on that day, it was the start of the end of the war. For those who lost a loved one, I can only think of the words attributed to President Abraham Lincoln in writing to a mother during the Civil War: “I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.”

Today, we must be vigilant against those seeking to expand their oppressive rule worldwide. Freedom must never be taken for granted - abroad or at home. The conditions that led to the start of World War II could easily happen again. We must never forget history, or we will be doomed to repeat it. 

Forty years ago, President Reagan concluded his remarks commemorating the D-Day Invasion with these words, “Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their valor, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.”  

Let us never forget their sacrifice or why they made it.

• Scott Walker is president of Young America’s Foundation and served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin.