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He spoke under a sunny sky at the American Cemetery on cliffs
overlooking Omaha Beach and the rest of the Normandy coastline
where on June 6, 1944 Allied ships disgorged American, British and
Canadian soldiers under the withering fire of Nazi troops awaiting
the Allies' cross-channel gamble.

      Arriving by helicopter, Obama visited an American battlefield
museum with his wife, Michelle; laid a wreath in honor of the
fallen; greeted U.S. military members; and mingled with uniformed
World War II veterans.

      Normandy's cliffs, still pocked with gun emplacements and other
reminders of the war, including the white headstones of thousands
of fallen American troops, provided sure footing for a new U.S.
commander in chief who has made an early priority of strengthening
America's relations with Europe. Obama noted that Normandy has been
visited by many U.S. presidents and predicted, "Long after our
time on this Earth has passed, one word will still bring forth the
pride and awe of men and women who will never meet the heroes who
sit before us: D-Day."


      He said the lessons of that pivotal effort are eternal.

      "Friends and veterans, what we cannot forget - what we must not
forget - is that D-Day was a time and a place where the bravery and
selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire
century," he said.

      One American veteran of the D-Day landings, Ralph K. Manley, 85,
stood among the graves at the American cemetery and marveled at the
thousands of visitors. Manley, who lost a twin brother in the war
and was a parachute infantryman with the 101st Airborne Division at
Normandy, told a reporter that the importance of the commemoration
went beyond Obama's presence.

      "I can see President Obama on the television when I'm home,"
he said. "But I could never see all the respect and courtesy that
all these people pay to come here this day. That's the part that
feels really heartwarming, the one that makes me feel good about
the sacrifices we made. I'm so thankful I'm not one of those
tombstones right here."

      Before the ceremony, Obama met in nearby Caen with French
President Nicolas Sarkozy. In an exchange with reporters, Obama
indicated that he was considering stronger responses to what he
called North Korean provocations.

      Obama said he preferred to stick to a diplomatic approach to
North Korea, after its nuclear and ballistic missile tests, but
said that would work only if the communist nation was willing to
engage in serious talks. He made no mention of a military option,
but suggested he sees a limit to the effectiveness of diplomacy.

      "I don't think there should be an assumption that we will
simply continue down a path in which North Korea is constantly
destabilizing the region and we continue to act in the same ways,"
he said.

      Speaking at Omaha Beach at a time when he is directing wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan - both of which have lasted longer than the
U.S. involvement in World War II - Obama described in stark terms
the harsh conditions the Allied invaders faced at Normandy. He
noted that in many ways the seaborne invasion plan went awry,
leaving the assaulting forces vulnerable to Nazi guns in their
path.


      "When the ships landed here at Omaha, an unimaginable hell
rained down on the men inside," he said. "Many never made it out
of the boats."

      But the Allies prevailed, gathering strength for a breakout from
Normandy in July that opened a path toward Paris and eventually
took the Allies all the way to Germany and victory over the Nazis.
Obama paid tribute to the Allies - the British, the Canadian, the
French as well as the Russians, "who sustained some of the war's
heaviest casualties on the Eastern front."

      "At an hour of maximum danger, amid the bleakest of
circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found it within
themselves to do the extraordinary," Obama said. "They fought out
of a simple sense of duty - a duty sustained by the same ideals for
which their countrymen had fought and bled for over two
centuries."


      Earlier, Sarkozy, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown each recalled the sacrifices of
the Allies.


      Obama noted that his grandfather, Stanley Dunham, arrived at
Normandy six weeks after D-Day and marched across France in Lt.
Gen. George S. Patton's army. Attending with Obama was his great
uncle, Charles Payne, who was part of the first American division
to reach and liberate a Nazi concentration camp that Obama and his
great uncle visited in Germany on Friday.

      Obama saluted the contributions of individual veterans of the
Normandy landings, including one veteran, Jim Norene, who fought as
a member of the 101st Airborne Division.

      "Last night, after visiting this cemetery for one last time, he
passed away in his sleep," the president said. "Jim was gravely
ill when he left his home, and he knew that he might not return.
But just as he did 65 years ago, he came anyway. May he now rest in
peace with the boys he once bled with, and may his family always
find solace in the heroism he showed here."


      Before France, Obama visited Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Germany.
      

Gallery

Remembering D-Day

Recalling the "unimaginable hell"
of D-Day suffering, President Barack Obama paid tribute Saturday to
the against-all-odds Allied landings that broke Nazi Germany's grip
on France and turned the tide of history.

Obama hails 'sheer improbability' of D-Day victory

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