Sen. McSally visits Normandy to mark 75th anniversary of D-Day

PHOENIX — U.S. Sen. Martha McSally of Arizona visited Normandy, France, on Thursday to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

She joined a bipartisan delegation of 17 senators, as well as President Donald Trump and French President Emmanual Macron, at a ceremony at the American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer.

“This has been such an inspiration. The tide of the war was turned against tyranny and the Nazis because of what they did,” McSally told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

“As a military person, I can tell you, it’s the most complex and amazing and courageous military operation in history.”

An honor of a lifetime to be at Normandy today for the #DDay75thAnniversary — especially with George Cross an Arizona WWII veteran. pic.twitter.com/tjC56VmiIt

— Martha McSally (@SenMcSallyAZ) June 6, 2019

McSally served in the military for 26 years, retiring from the Air Force in 2010. She was the first U.S. woman to fly a fighter jet in combat and command a fighter squadron.

The senators paid respects to the Americans buried in Normandy, including some Arizonans, and met with the more than 150 veterans attending the ceremony.

McSally spoke with Arizona veteran George Cross, who was a paratrooper in the invasion as a teenager.

More than 2,500 Americans died in the D-Day operation on June 6, 1944, when over 150,000 Allied soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy. The attack began the Allied campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jeremy Foster contributed to this report. 

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