COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France — Standing among the graves of America's World War II dead, President Bush pledged Monday that the United States will never forget those who perished on the beaches of Normandy — or on the battlefields of Afghanistan.
"For some military families in America and in Europe, the grief is recent," Bush said at a rainy ceremony honoring those who died in the 1944 liberation of France. "They can know, however, that the cause is just. And like other generations, these sacrifices have spared many others from tyranny and sorrow."
Observing this Memorial Day on foreign soil, a rarity for an American president, Bush spoke at the Normandy American Cemetery, home to the graves of 9,387 Americans killed in World War II.
The cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach, where some of the heaviest U.S. casualties occurred in the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion as Allied forces broke through Hitler's fortifications to turn the tide of the war.
"Our security is still bound up together in a trans-Atlantic alliance, with soldiers in many uniforms defending the world from terrorists at this very hour," Bush said.
With French President Jacques Chirac at his side, Bush, who was born two years after the D-Day invasion, also participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the cemetery.
Among those in the audience of several thousand was a moist-eyed Ted Liska, 84, of Chicago, dressed in his World War II uniform. An Army sergeant in the D-Day invasion, Liska said he's come back nearly every year since.
He lost four Army buddies in the invasion. "I told them I'd never forget them. That's what I come back for every year," he said.
Roiling clouds and intermittent rain added a touch of sadness to the ceremony. Bush strode alone among painfully neat rows of thousands of bone-white marble crosses or Stars of David, each decorated with two flags, one American, one French.
"Each person buried here understood his duty but also dreamed of going back home to the people and things he knew," Bush said, the English Channel dark and choppy behind him.
"The day will come when no one is left who knew them, when no visitor to this cemetery can stand before a grave remembering a face and a voice," Bush said.
But, he added, "The day will never come when America forgets them. Our nation and the world will always remember what they did here and what they gave here for the future of humanity."
Bush paid his cemetery tribute after attending a service at the Church of Notre Dame de la Paix in nearby Sainte-Mere-Eglise — the first French town liberated by Americans.
Several hundred people lined the streets of the town. Exuberant children chanted "Chirac and George Bush" as they waved U.S. and French flags. U.S. Army Chaplain Kevin Leideritz, a World War II veteran, led the service in prayer and called the town "a community with such history and deep emotion."
The last visit to Normandy by a U.S. president was in 1994, when then-President Bill Clinton went there to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of D-Day.
Bush sought in his cemetery speech to compare the sacrifices made to defend freedom in World War II with the challenges that face the world today.
"Our wars have taken from us the men and women we honor today, and every hour of the lifetimes they had hoped to live," he said.
The same is true now, Bush said, in the U.S.-led military campaign that pushed the Taliban out of power in Afghanistan. He made specific reference to the campaign in Afghanistan — and to the antiterrorism campaign that followed the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States.
After the speech, Bush and Chirac laid two wreaths, floral arrangements of the U.S. and French flags, at a memorial for the fallen soldiers. After a moment of silence, the national anthems of both countries were played.
The ground shook from cannon blasts of a 21-gun salute, followed by a mournful rendition of "Taps" by a lone bugler.
But the ceremony ended on an upbeat note as eight fighter jets thundered overhead — four French Air Force Mirages followed by four American F-15s — and soldiers hoisted the American flag from half-staff position to the top of the flagpole.
The president also got a helicopter tour of several other of the five beaches that figured in the invasion, and of Pointe de Hoc, one of the strong points of the German fortifications, which was taken by storm by U.S. Rangers.
The visit came as Bush proceeded with his weeklong tour of Europe.
Late Monday, he was to fly to Rome, where he will participate in a NATO-Russia meeting on Tuesday and visit Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
Earlier, he visited Germany and Russia.