Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned on the 80th anniversary of D-Day that the world must “rally again” to defend freedom and uphold the international rules-based order.
Austin, speaking Thursday in Normandy, France, to mark the anniversary, praised the Americans who stormed the beaches 80 years ago under fire from Nazi Germany for saving the world from tyranny.
“Our gratitude must never fade. Our memories must never dim. And our resolve must never fail,” Austin said. “We still seek a world where aggression is a sin, and where human rights are sacred. And where all people can live in freedom.
“And so we must rally again to defend the open postwar world of rules, rights and responsibilities,” he added. “Those rules protect us. Those rights define us. And those responsibilities summon us once more.”
Austin joined President Biden and other administration officials in Normandy to mark the anniversary of D-Day, when Allied troops began the liberation of Europe. Germany would surrender just 11 months after the D-Day invasion.
In his speech, Biden warned against isolationism, saying it was “not the answer 80 years ago and is not the answer today,” while calling to continue standing up against tyranny.
Austin said the world was once again at a “hinge in history” and “must again stand firm against aggression and tyranny.”
“And as I said here last year, if the troops of the world’s democracies could have risked their lives for freedom, then, surely the citizens of the world’s democracy can risk our comfort for freedom now,” he said. “So let us again uphold the spirit of D-Day. Let us again defend the principles that the Allied armies carried. And let us again thank the heroes of D-Day who kept freedom alive for us all.”