Kudos to the wonderful site Real Clear Politics, always essential reading, for this link to the Reagan speech on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, about the “boys of Pointe du Hoc.” Yes, somebody else (I believe it was Peggy Noonan) wrote it, or at least the main draft of it, but only Ronald Reagan could have inspired it and given it. It sounds like Reagan always sounded. If it was Noonan, it was Noonan channeling Reagan.

But let this not be a tribute to Reagan primarily, for Reagan’s goal was to pay tribute to the men who scaled the cliffs, the men who fought on D-Day, and all of their compatriots who fought in that great war. Listen to the words, read the words, and pay homage to those to whom the words were dedicated. They blessed posterity through their valor.