Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.
--Ronald Reagan, Address to the Heroes of the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1984.
Click here to read a thoughtful Memorial Day tribute by Peggy Noonan (who, by the way, was Reagan's chief speechwriter), honoring three heroes, including Tennessee's Alvin York.
--Ronald Reagan, Address to the Heroes of the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1984.
Click here to read a thoughtful Memorial Day tribute by Peggy Noonan (who, by the way, was Reagan's chief speechwriter), honoring three heroes, including Tennessee's Alvin York.
Mark, thanks for the link to Peggy Noonan's article. My grandfather was a friend of Sgt. York and it's very rare for him to be mentioned these days.
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