225 came here. After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.

Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs.

And before me, are the men who put them there.

These are the boys of Puentu.

These are the men who took the cliffs.

These are the champions who helped free a continent.

These are the heroes who helped end a war.

That was former President Ronald Reagan delivering his iconic D-Day speech back in 1984 about the brave young men who climbed the cliffs at Gente Hoek using ropes, hooks, and ladders to reach a suspected German gun

and placement 100 feet up. And that is where we begin this morning in Normandy France for the 80th

anniversary of the D-Day landings, the invasion that propelled the end to

World War II.

Right now President Biden is meeting with global leaders

and the veterans who sacrificed their lives.

And good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Thursday June 6th along with

Willie and me we have the host of Wade too early. White House Bureau Chief

at Politico, Jonathan Lemir, MS NBC contributor Mike Barnacle, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign

Relations and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, retired four-star Navy Admiral James

Tavridis, He's chief international analyst for NBC News.

Also with us, author and NBC News Presidential historian Michael Besslaus and Willie if it's possible this day 80 years later

always so poignant but also so current to our own challenges today in Ukraine, in Israel, and even in America's own

elections.

It is and we'll hear some of those themes from president Biden in a speech

...