HON BILL SHORTEN MP
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG
SENATOR DON FARRELL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE CENTENARY OF ANZAC
SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
STATEMENT
70TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY
Seventy years ago, 156,000 Allied troops landed on five beaches on the Normandy coast.
The D-Day landings were an operation of unprecedented size, scale and difficulty.
The fighting was fierce and more than 10,000 Allied troops lost their lives, including 18 Australian servicemen.
The Battle of Normandy turned the tide of the Second World War and marked the beginning of the end for Nazism.
As Churchill wrote in his history of the Second World War:
All the ships were at sea. We had the mastery of the oceans and of the air. The Hitler tyranny was doomed.
By the end of June, more than 850,000 Allied soldiers had landed at Normandy and within a year, Europe was at peace.
More than 3,000 Australians from the Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army participated in the Normandy landings.
Australians will always be proud of the part our country played in the liberation of Europe and the defeat of fascism.
We pay tribute today to the heroism of all those who risked, and lost, their lives.
We remember all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their brothers in arms, and their nation.
Lest we forget.
FRIDAY, 6 JUNE 2014
MEDIA CONTACT: LEADER’S OFFICE MEDIA UNIT 02 6277 4053
