Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago on the first day of June there was frenetic activity in England. Final preparations were being made to launch the largest military force ever embarked on, for at dawn on Tuesday, June 6, 1944 D-Day, the invasion of Nazi occupied France, would commence. In May 1945 victory in Europe would be declared and freedom returned to the continent.
In commemorating the longest day we pay tribute to the thousands of our military killed or wounded in battle and the hundreds of thousands of Canadian families who sacrificed here at home during the war.
It is also appropriate that we consider how the course of history can be affected for the better by people and nations determined to fight evil.
Just prior to that war there was some wavering of resolve and failed attempts at appeasement. In the end, it was only through determined effort that freedom and democracy triumphed.
History teaches us that it is not easy to stand up to tyranny. We salute those who did.