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4 days ago
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Reporter's Notebook: Remembering courage on the 81st anniversary of D-Day
I've covered many anniversaries of D-Day, and they never lose their power to move. We were at the 81st anniversary at the stunning American cemetery in Normandy near Omaha Beach on Friday. American and other allied forces landed on that and other beaches, as well as parachuting from the skies, to go on to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II. World War Ii Veterans Travel To Normandy For Emotional D-day Commemoration Some 75,000 U.S. troops were involved. 2,500 were killed. 5,000 injured. Just on that day itself. One of those who made it across Omaha Beach is the still-very spry 102-year-old Minnesota-born Jake Larson. He declared to us jubilantly, "Not only did I make it through six battles … I made it without a scratch! Somebody 'upstairs' loves me." World War Ii Veterans Travel To Normandy For Emotional D-day Commemoration Read On The Fox News App Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke at the ceremony marking the day and met with the dwindling number of World War II veterans. He told us that alliances were important on D-Day and still could be important in these troubled times. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Reveals Why Military Recruitment Has Soared Under Trump " America first' hasn't meant and doesn't mean 'America alone,'" he added. "Working with our allies and partners, there's a lot we can accomplish now with gathering threats in the world." Still, some of those who saw action in Normandy and around the globe in World War II are not sure the message has gotten through. Two centenarian combat veterans and native New Yorkers, brought to France by the Greatest Generations Foundation, have their own thoughts. Flushing-born Ray Sweeney asked rhetorically, "What did we learn? I don't think we learned much. We gave up a lot of bodies. We had a lot of bodies." And Brooklyn-born Harold Radish noted, "War is heroic in the movies. But in real life, it's killing. It's not getting along with somebody." Still, the crowds who came Friday to the now-peaceful French beaches were steady and large. A strong sign that sacrifices have been remembered. And maybe some lessons article source: Reporter's Notebook: Remembering courage on the 81st anniversary of D-Day
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reveals why military recruitment has soared under Trump
Joining "Fox & Friends" live from Normandy, France, where Allied forces once stormed the beaches to turn the tide of World War II, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth honored the 81st anniversary of D-Day with a message that looked not only to the past but to the future. As the nation honors the bravery and sacrifices of World War II veterans, Hegseth emphasized a new wave of patriotism among today's young Americans – one he says is driving an uptick in military recruitment. "It's historic. Of course it's a morale shift. It shifts back to the day President Trump was elected and then inaugurated," he said Friday. World War Ii Veterans Travel To Normandy For Emotional D-day Commemoration The Army alone has posted the best recruiting numbers in years, reaching 61,000 for fiscal year 2025, with four months remaining. That's an increase of more than 6,000 from 55,150 in fiscal year 2024. Hegseth told co-hosts Ainsley Earhardt, Lawrence Jones and Brian Kilmeade that the spirit inside the U.S. armed forces is "incredible" right now, and the morale shift isn't isolated to the Army. Read On The Fox News App "It's also the Air Force, it's also the Navy, it is also the Marine Corps, Coast Guard and, as the president says, law enforcement," he continued. "Across the board, the spirit of our country, [there's a] willingness and desire to serve, because they see leadership that believes in the country that's going to have their back, that says, 'We want you to be warriors. We're not doing this politically correct garbage anymore. We're doing war fighting. We're training, we're preparing, we're focused on [getting] back to basics, and… the young people of America have responded, and they'll continue to respond." Trump Declares May 8 As 'Victory Day' For World War Ii: 'Going To Start Celebrating Our Victories Again!' Hegseth attended this year's ceremony where military officials and veterans commemorated the 81st anniversary of D-Day. He started his morning with a physical training session with rangers from the 75th Ranger Regiment on Omaha Beach at nearly the same time as the first landing craft would have hit in 1944. "These men [World War II soldiers] were willing to charge toward the guns with almost no chance of success, especially in those first waves, and they did it for us," he said. Days ago, the defense secretary honored the sacrifices of U.S. armed forces at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., where he greeted a number of World War II veterans whose resolve remains high more than half a century later. "The contrast of those 100-year-old World War II vets and then those 25-year old Army Rangers that I did a workout with this morning – the blood of fighting for freedom still pumps in the veins of Americans, and we still raise those types, and that's what was really cool to see."Original article source: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reveals why military recruitment has soared under Trump
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
On 81st anniversary of D-Day, one US Navy veteran's son is the first American Pope
On this 81st anniversary of D-Day, the Pentagon has shared a powerful connection between the Vatican and the U.S. military. Pope Leo XIV's father, Louis Marius Prevost, served as a Navy officer during the historic 1944 Normandy landings. Prevost, born in Chicago in 1920, was commissioned into the Navy in November 1943. He served as the executive officer of a tank landing ship during Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France June 6, 1944. World War Ii Veterans Travel To Normandy For Emotional D-day Commemoration Later, he commanded an infantry landing craft in Operation Dragoon, the August 1944 Allied landing in southern the war, Prevost returned to Illinois, where he became superintendent of Brookwood School District 167 and later principal of Mount Carmel Elementary School in Chicago. He was also a catechist, teaching Christian Sox Installing Pope Leo Xiv Graphic Near His 2005 World Series Seat Prevost married Mildred Agnes Martinez in 1949, and they had three sons, including Robert Francis Prevost, who was elected Pope Leo XIV May 8, 2025, becoming the first American-born this week, Pope Leo XIV signed a baseball at the Vatican, a nod to his Chicago roots and lifelong support for the White Sox. The team has honored him with a commemorative installation at Guaranteed Rate Field. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Vatican for comment but has not yet received a response. Read On The Fox News AppOriginal article source: On 81st anniversary of D-Day, one US Navy veteran's son is the first American Pope
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
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Trump scorns Merkel legacy during new German chancellor's White House visit
Donald Trump has heaped criticism on the former German chancellor Angela Merkel for opening up her country to refugees, telling her successor: 'I told her it shouldn't have happened.' During an appearance with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, on Thursday, Trump was asked about the sweeping travel restrictions on 19 countries that he announced the previous day. 'We want to keep bad people out of our country … of course, you have a little problem too with some of the people that were allowed into your country,' Trump said to Merz, in an apparent reference to a number of attacks in Germany involving refugees. Merz replied: 'Yes we do,' before Trump continued: 'It's not your fault … It shouldn't have happened. I told her it shouldn't have happened, but it did. But you have your own difficulty with that, and we do.' He was referring to Merkel, but did not call her by name. The former chancellor visited the White House in 2017, during Trump's first term of office, when she was given a grilling by Trump over her so-called open-door policy, which allowed around 1 million refugees – mainly from Syria and Iraq – into Germany. Merz's highly anticipated visit had been viewed with trepidation in Berlin, amid fears that the German leader may face another Oval Office ambush, such as those endured by Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa. In the end, all the criticism was levied at Merkel, a former political rival of Merz. Trump also made a dig about Merkel's enthusiasm for the building of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which brought gas from Russia to Europe. During the 35-minute press conference, Merz struggled to get a word in, though as German commentators noted, that was probably to the relief of his advisers, who feared there were a number of issues on which Trump might have pilloried him, from defence spending to immigration. When he did manage to speak, the former corporate lawyer mostly focused on Ukraine and the need to end the conflict, in particular by bringing the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to account. Merz also pushed back several times on Trump's narrative that Ukraine and Russia were equally to blame for the war. Related: Trump says it may be better to let Ukraine and Russia 'fight for a while' 'I'm here, Mr President, to talk to you later on how we could contribute to that goal [to end the war]. We are all looking for measures and for instruments to bring this terrible war to an end,' Merz said. He compared the US role in ending the conflict with the part US troops played in defeating the Nazi dictatorship. He noted that Friday will mark the 81st anniversary of D-day, in which tens of thousands of US troops joined allied troops in invading Normandy. The US, he said, was 'again, in the very strong position to do something' about ending the war. Trump, he said, was the 'key person in the world' who could stop the war 'by putting pressure on Russia'. Trump praised Germany for having agreed to boost its defence spending to 5% of GDP, after years-long demands from Washington for it to do so. Asked by a German journalist whether Berlin was 'doing enough on defence', Trump said: 'I know you're spending more money on defence now. Quite a bit more money. That's a positive.' But to some nervous laughter in the room, he quipped that he was 'not sure if Gen MacArthur would have said it's positive,' a reference to the supreme commander for the allied powers, among whose focuses was postwar demilitarisation. Merz prepared for the visit in part by talking to other leaders who have met Trump in recent months to gather tips about the best way to handle him. Merkel has said that she prepared for her first Trump visit – when he was less well-known as a politician – by reading a 1980s interview with him in Playboy and watching episodes of The Apprentice. Merz was put up for the night in the official government guest house, Blair House, which his advisers said was a signal that the two leaders – who refer to one other by their first names – were on a good footing. Merz presented Trump with a gold-framed birth certificate of his grandfather, Friedrich Trump, who emigrated from Germany in 1885, as well as a book titled News from the Land of Freedom – German Immigrants Write Home, which is a collection of letters written by German émigrés in the US to their families back in Germany. 'It is a small present to remind him of his family,' Merz said. He has also invited Trump to Germany to visit his grandfather's home village.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Residents honor D-Day with stories of local heroes
ST. LOUIS – People across the St. Louis area commemorated the 81st anniversary of D-Day on Friday. 'We really tell it through St. Louis voices. So St. Louis people who participated in the liberation and also who were liberated,' Helen Turner said. Turner is the Holocaust Museum Director of Education. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now 'D-day really marks the turn in the war of the allies being able to push through into France and so really it is going to be the start of liberation. Certainly not the end, but the start liberation,' she said. While some people spent time at the museum learning about the liberation, others spent time at the Veterans Memorial Walk in O'Fallon. 'We come over to this memorial because it feels like a place we should be and we do come here regularly,' Pat McCrady said. He and his wife, Paddy, wanted to pay their respects at the memorial. McCrady served in the U.S. Air Force and his wife is in the auxiliary. 'What I want people to know is to remember the folks that were participating in it and didn't come home. It's the reason that we're here today,' McCrady said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
