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Reviers, Thursday, May 8, 2008
I am so proud to be standing here with you, Excellency, in this place so steeped in history for our two peoples, on this solemn May 8th, so soon after the moving commemoration at Ouistreham.
Take a look at the tombstones that surround us.
Beneath each one, there is a unique story. Dreams of youth, parents who worry, hearts that sigh, loved ones waiting, courage without bounds.
But beneath all of these tombstones, there are the same values. The values of justice and freedom for which so many young people, from both sides of the Atlantic, willingly made unimaginable sacrifices, including the ultimate sacrifice: their very lives.
Values that made us at the time, in a ravaged France, sisters and brothers in arms and spirit.
They are the same values that, to this day, remain an unbreakable bond between Canada and France.
In each of these tombstones is embodied the same battle for freedom.
And a generosity that is difficult to fathom.
A generosity that pushes thousands of young people to leave everything behind—families and friends—and cross the great ocean to come to the aid of women and men they have never even met.
How can we not be overcome by humility in the face of such selflessness, such greatness, such compassion?
And how can we measure all that we owe to those sacrificed lives?
As commander-in-chief of the Canadian Forces, I salute in each of these tombstones that outpouring of solidarity to ensure that the forces of creation triumph over the forces of destruction.
To the soldiers buried here, to all those who grieved and continue to grieve their loss, and to all those who outlived them, I want to express our nation’s gratitude.