simply unthinkable! >> norah: plus, we hear from the greatest generation. >> what were you fighting for? >> freedom. >> norah: the "cbs evening news" starts now. ♪ ♪ 80 years later, the world remembers the soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the allied expeditionary force. good evening. i'm norah o'donnell, and thank you being with us. the sun rose over normandy's cliffs this morning, just as it did on june 6, 1944, as the liberation of western europe began with the largest amphibious invasion in history. president biden joined other world leaders to honor the bravery and sacrifice of the d-day heroes. he drew a straight line from the fight for freedom in world war ii to the fight against russia's aggression now, saying, "freedom is worth it. democracy is worth it. the world is worth it." "cbs mornings" anchor tony dokoupil is at the american cemetery in normandy. good evening, tony. >> reporter: good evening, norah. you know, with all world war ii veterans now in their upper 90s or more, today is likely the final time that these shores will greet those veterans for a major anniversary. but if it is the last, it was also one of the biggest. ♪ ♪ 80 years after the allied invasion of hitler's fortress europe, president biden and french president emmanuel macron gathered to honor the thousands who died and the free world they died for. >> [speaking french] >> reporter: with macron pinning medals on american veterans to induct them into the highest french order of merit, the legion of honour. and as war rages again on europe's doorstep, after russia's invasion of ukraine in 2022, president biden linked the battle for freedom across decades. >> every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it, in memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here, let us be worthy of their sacrifice. >> reporter: a sentiment shared by secretary antony blinken. >> one country can't simply violate the territory of another by force, try to dominate its future. if we don't stand up for those rules in our time, then we risk seeing what happened in the time that we are commemorating today. >> reporter: with the soldiers of world war ii now at the far end of life's journey, only about 200 american veterans made the trip to normandy this year. among them, onofrio zicari, one of the thousands of young americans who landed at omaha beach, then just 21 years old. now, at 101, he is among the dwindling few still around to tell the story. >> the shells were landing all over us. one caught me in my knee, and another caught me in my shoulder. i looked over, and there is this g.i. he was sitting on his helmet. and he was holding his guts. he was a redhead. never forget it. >> reporter: where did you take cover? >> didn't. >> reporter: no cover? >> no, we just crawled along the beach. when there was a little lull, we got up and ran. >> reporter: at the american cemetery here in normandy, 9,388 soldiers rest under white crosses and stars of david. "the pride of our nation," as president roosevelt put it back then. honored once again by their nation today. and you were there to help start that cemetery. what did that mean to you? >> they were not coming home. not coming home. and just, i'm lucky to be alive. >> norah: and tony is back with us. tony, i understand the president has got an important speech tomorrow again talking about democracy and freedom. what can you tell us? >> reporter: yeah, norah, he'll be just up the shore from here at pointe du hoc, a cliff where army rangers on d-day fought up the sheer side as enemy fire rained down on them, and though they suffered heavy casualties, they eventually took the cliff in an act of courage, in defense of democracy, and an example, the white house is expected to argue, of the risks of ignoring bullies abroad. >> norah: tony dokoupil, thank you. 11 people were hospitalized for heat exhaustion today after they were rescued in a human smuggling bust in san antonio. the city is under a hea dome, with temperatures spiking into the triple digits, and the migrants were found in a trailer, with no air conditioning and no access to water. cbs's ben tracy reports. >> this is the fault of the bloodthirsty organizations that are bringing these people across and putting them in harm's way. >> reporter: police say they began following a truck pulling a trailer on the texas side of the border near laredo. underneath, they say they found 26 human smuggling victims. >> these people were just laying down in there, exposed to the elements. >> reporter: in bexar county, where the heat index soared to 106 degrees today, the alleged smuggling victims were brought to a wooden shack. >> it's miserable conditions there, and it's just blazing hot in there. >> reporter: as the heat dome expands in phoenix, arizona, an expected high of 113 degrees could break the daily record. >> we are going to use this rapid cooling bag. >> reporter: first responders there demonstrated a potentially life-saving way to treat patients suffering from heat stroke. this cooling bag filled with ice could quickly reduce a person's body temperature. >> that's our goal, is to increase the survivability by the time we get them through the doors of the hospital. >> reporter: and in las vegas, road crews laying asphalt braved triple-digit heat. >> yeah, we are about 10 degrees hotter right now. this is more like july weather. >> reporter: now it is expected to cool off by a couple of degrees across much of the west, including here in las vegas, this coming weekend, but, norah, that extreme heat is back in the forecast for next week. >> norah: very dangerous. ben tracy, thank you. people in five states are cleaning up tonight after an outbreak of suspected tornadoes, some of which came as a surprise. just look at this monstrous supercell spinning towards homes in maryland, and then in michigan, a tree crashed through a home, killing a toddler, and critically injuring his mom. and a suspected tornado just outside d.c. injured several people. president biden is speaking out tonight about whether or not he would pardon his son in his federal gun case, as the jury heard from the government's key witness, the president's own daughter-in-law, hallie biden. cbs's scott macfarlane was inside the courtroom as she testified about hunter biden's drug use and the gun at the center of the case. >> reporter: a star witness in a potentially pivotal piece of video evidence at the trial of president biden's son, hunter. hallie biden, the widow of hunter's brother, beau, testified this surveillance video shows her throwing away her brother-in-law's gun in a delaware grocery store parking lot on october 23, 2018, just 11 days after hunter biden bought the gun and just after hallie biden said she found it in hunter biden's car along with drug residue and drug paraphernalia. hallie testified, "i didn't wan% him to hurt himself or the kids to find it and hurt themselves. i was panicking." prosecutors are trying to prove hunter biden was addicted or using drugs at the time he bought the gun, lying on this federal gun application. >> prosecutors will tell you the phsical evidence doesn't lie, and this is about as powerful physical evidence as you can get, linking his possession of that gun to his use of illegal drugs. >> reporter: hallie biden also described taking up a romantic relationship with her brother-in-law about a year after her late husband beau biden's 2015 death, telling the jury it was also hunter biden who introduced her to using crack cocaine, calling her drug use "a terrible experience, i'm embarrassed and ashamed." prosecutors showed hallie biden the gun and images of the satchel in which she found and discarded it. but hunter biden's attorney, abbe lowell, tried to show hallie biden didn't actually know what hunter was doing the week he bought the gun. "you don't know if he was drinking, using, or either of the above," lowell asked. "i don't know," she responded. hunter biden faces the prospect of prison time if convicted on these charges. in an interview today, president biden ruled out a future pardon for his son. norah? >> norah: scott macfarlane, thank you. one of donald trump's most outspoken allies, steve bannon, was ordered by a federal judge to report to prison by july 1st to serve a four-month sentence. bannon was found to be in contempt of congress in 2022 after failing to appear for a deposition ordered by the house january 6th committee and refusing to turn over documents. bannon says he'll fight to appeal his conviction all the way to the supreme court. bannon's former boss, donald trump, is in battleground arizona tonight, firing up supporters at his first campaign event since he was convicted in the hush money case. cbs's caitlin huey-burns is in phoenix. >> reporter: donald trump today took aim at immigration in the battleground border state key to his chances of winning the presidency. >> joe biden wants an invasion. i want a deportation. >> reporter: cbs news polling shows trump leading biden here, with immigration among the top issues of concern. >> they assume that because we're immigrants, we are for criminality and for open borders. no, we have families. we believe in america, in a safe border. >> reporter: just this week, state republicans approved a november ballot measure that would allow local police to arrest undocumented migrants crossing the border, a measure aimed at driving voter turnout. >> my workforce is largely an immigrant workforce, and they're not criminals. >> reporter: citrus farmer selwyn justice says he's worried that policy could hurt business. >> somebody might just show up and come into your -- come into your place of business and tell everybody they need to stop working and demonstrate documentation. >> reporter: trump lost arizona by about 10,000 votes four years ago, and it has been ground zero for false claims about the election. just last month, trump was named an unindicted coconspirator in an election interference case where several of his allies were charged. and as for his own conviction, trump this week pledged retribution. >> when this election is over, based on what they've done, i would have every right to go after them. >> reporter: and the race to be trump's running mate is also heating up. several contenders have already received official vetting documents, and some of those top prospects include governor doug burgum, along with senators tim scott, marco rubio, and j.d. vance, who was traveling with trump here in arizona today. norah? >> norah: now a look at tonight's other top stories. dozens of people, including women and children, were killed at an israeli air strike today on a u.n. school complex in central gaza. cbs's chris livesay is in tel aviv. >> reporter: israel defense forces say they were targeting a compound that was housing fighters from both hamas and palestinian islamic jihad. that compound, they said, was inside a u.n. school, where thousands of civilians were sheltering. israel insists it was a precision air strike that took days of planning to avoid the loss of innocent life. in the chaotic aftermath at a hospital in gaza, norah, cbs news was shown children among those wounded and killed. "why is this happening to us?" says this woman. "may allah avenge us." >> norah: new murder charges today for the suspected gilgo beach serial killer now accused of killing six people on new york's long island, some of the murders dating back decades. cbs new york's carolyn gusoff was in the courtroom today as new evidence was revealed. >> reporter: rex heuermann showed no emotion in court today, norah, as the new charges were unveiled. prosecutors say they connected the 60-year-old architect to the deaths of jessica taylor in 2003 and sandra castillo in 1993, partially through dna from hair. they also described a chilling document they called a manifesto found on heuermann's computer. >> it was utilized by heuermann to methodically blueprint and plan out his kills. >> reporter: heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all charges. >> norah: and we are getting the results of new crash tests for three of the nation's top-selling large suvs. all had room to improve, but the ford expedition and the chevy tahoe earned low marks in several key safety categories, including crash protection. cbs's kris van cleave explains the findings. >> reporter: norah, it was a big win for the jeep wagoneer in the latest round of insurance institute for highway safety testing. it scored the top safety pick ranking. the chevrolet tahoe and ford expedition underperformed in a front crash test more than 90% of new vehicles have scored well on since 2021. and in new tests focused on crash protections for rearseat passengers, iihs found all three showed a risk of chest injuries in a collision. >> when manufacturers do not perform well on these tests, they quickly pull their engineering and design teams together, make the changes. >> reporter: ford and general motors say they are confident in the safety of their vehicles. >> norah: good information. thanks to our cbs news teams across the globe. 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