US president in France to attend D-Day ceremonies, meet with French counterpart

By Nur Asena Erturk

US President Joe Biden Wednesday arrived in France to attend D-Day ceremonies and meet with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal welcomed the president at the Paris-Orly Airport.

Biden will attend a ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the allied invasion of Normandy, held by Macron in northern France.

The US president is expected to deliver remarks on the northwestern coast of France on Friday during the ceremony.

Biden will also hold a bilateral meeting with Macron in Paris on Saturday for his first official state visit to the country.

Paris will host another head of state on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will deliver a speech before the French parliament’s lower chamber, or the National Assembly.

Zelenskyy will also meet with Macron at the French Presidency or Elysee Palace to discuss Paris’ support for Kyiv, French media outlets reported.

Biden and Zelenskyy are expected to meet as well, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday during a briefing aboard Air Force One en route to France.

- D-Day

On June 6, 1944, Omaha Beach was the landing site for Allied forces who stormed the sand into Europe to defeat Nazi forces who had taken hold in many towns and villages in the northern region. Some 160,000 troops in 7,000 boats landed there, as well as on the nearby beaches of Utah, Juno, Sword, and Gold.

Known officially as the Normandy Invasion, it left 4,414 troops killed on that day, including 2,501 Americans, and 5,000 wounded. A total of 9,843 troops from the US, Britain, and Canada were killed in the action on June 6 and in the few days thereafter.

German troops were ready for the invasion, however, with gunfire placed at strategic high points around the nearly 10-kilometer-long (6-mile) beach as the forces landed. The ocean waters, as well as the beach, were also heavily mined by the Germans.