because it teaches, it teaches our current leaders. some of the facts of today are just astounding when you think about what june 6 represented, beginning with d-day, the liberation of europe, 338 days is how long the allies advanced. more than 700 miles, liberating tens of millions. then think about the survivors, the veterans. according to rick atkinson who wrote a wonderful book, part of his trip glogy, he talks about there were more than 16 million americans who were in uniform during the second world war. by 2024 that number is expected to dip below 100,000. so there aren t that many presidents who are going to be able to see large numbers of veterans of d-day to understand the lessons of history, to understand the sacrifice to something greater than themselves and to understand the alliance that it represented