Mr. Speaker, the ceremonies taking place here today and elsewhere are an expression of the gratitude we feel as well as an opportunity for us to reflect on the meaning of June 6, 1944, and on the lessons to be learned from that fateful day on which the largest military operation of all time unfolded.
The word gratitude does not begin to convey the full measure of the debt we owe to the 5,000 Canadians of all origins and to the tens of thousands of allied soldiers who selflessly made the supreme sacrifice during the battle of Normandy.
Words can never express the debt we owe to those lying silently in the cemeteries doting the coast along the landing beaches, their graves marked by white crosses and bearing inscriptions which tell the tale of 20-year-old boys who died in the name of democracy and freedom.
We also owe a debt of gratitude to their fellow soldiers who survived the fury of battle. They returned home to their families carrying with them the memory of their fallen comrades. How can we not think of the mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, widows and betrothed, and orphaned sons and daughters left to grieve for those buried on foreign soil? Their pain, sacrifices and selfless actions were made greater by the reasons that inspired them. On this day, we must also remember the nurses who worked in the hospitals on the front, as well as all those who toiled in the factories and plants.
The importance of the Allied landings in Normandy cannot be overstated. The invasion marked the beginning of the final assault by the Allied forces on Berlin. Forced to defend itself on two fronts, Hitler's army surrendered less than one year later, shortly after our troops linked up with Soviet divisions.
The success of the landing in France clearly demonstrated the combined industrial might of the United States, Great Britain and Canada. Above all, it was an expression of democratic solidarity. Hearts and minds were mobilized in the quest to
defend the principles of freedom that underlie all truly democratic societies.
At a time when the very principle of our collective allegiance was threatened, our citizens rallied to take up arms. The threat must have been perceived as great indeed for a people as fundamentally peaceful as we are to become involved as we did in the most devastating armed conflict in history.
The determination was also great to erase the threat of any future conflict. If there is one view shared by all veterans who are haunted by the terrible atrocities they witnessed, it is their condemnation of war.
We owe more than mere gratitude and admiration to those who lay down their life or endured terrible suffering. We have a duty to them to remember, because it is by remembering the horror of war that we will remain vigilant defenders of peace.
It is with gratitude and humility that I pay tribute to the Canadian men and women of every background, race, religion, language and political persuasion who laid down their lives in Europe, or lost their friends and comrades and returned to Canada, some maimed, and all forever marked by an experience of tragedy and a knowledge of bravery and sacrifice of a kind rarely encountered in our times.
In remembering the sacrifices made on D-Day, let us resolve once more to honour the memory of the men and women who fought against fascism by continuing in our day the struggle for democracy and human rights. In order that the spirit of democracy be allowed to flourish, and not simply its structures, I would wish for us all throughout the coming years the understanding and sensitivity that we perhaps experience in heightened degree on occasions such as this when we remember, above all, our shared values and common democratic goals.