If there is one date in history that kids of the baby boomer generation likely remember, it’s June 6, 1944. The battle in Normandy, France, will never be forgotten, possibly because many of us had a relative who was directly involved in that pivotal World War II campaign in Normandy, France.

With more than 5,000 ships and landing craft employed to transport troops and supplies, D-Day - called Operation Overlord - was the largest amphibious military assault in history, leading to the eventual defeat and downfall of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Of the 4,414 Allied deaths that day, 2,501 were Americans.

Today, there are about 2,500 D-Day veterans still with us.

Since that day that changed world history, nearly all of America’s presidents have made statements honoring the veterans who fought to save the world from tyranny.

In his national radio broadcast on that day 77 years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, our wartime president, asked Americans to join him in prayer for Allied forces: “They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate,” he said.

The remarks made to troops on June 5, 1944, by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces who would later become president, are legendary:

“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months,” he stated. “The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”

President Barack Obama, who was in Normandy to mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day 12 years ago, said “so much of the progress that would define the 20th century, on both sides of the Atlantic, came down to the battle for a slice of beach only 6 miles long and 2 miles wide.”

During the 20th anniversary in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed a Normandy delegation by stating: “Your country remembers and will never forget, the resolve born on that D-Day. When this nation has stood for 2,000 years, we shall not have forgotten the lands where our sons lie buried, nor the cause for which our sons died. Where we have commitments to the cause of freedom, we shall honor them - today, tomorrow and always.”

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan became the first president to attend a D-Day anniversary in person, making Normandy the highlight of a three-nation tour. The speech he gave, which was crafted by speechwriter Peggy Noonan, stirred the small audience assembled at Pointe du Hoc, the steep cliffs that U.S. Rangers had to climb to reach a suspected German gun emplacement at the beginning of the assault.

“We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free,” Reagan stated. “One’s country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.”

Historian Douglas Brinkley called Reagan’s speech “one of the most inspirational presidential speeches ever delivered.”

So for over seven decades, our presidents and world leaders have delivered legendary speeches about D-Day.

Sadly, the one president who chose to ignore June 6, 1944, is Joe Biden. The 46th president did not reference the D-Day anniversary on either his personal Twitter account or his official @POTUS account last Sunday, the date of the invasion.

Nor did the White House put out a statement referencing D-Day that Sunday, though it did note the 40th anniversary of the known beginning of the AIDS epidemic the previous day.

A day later, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that even though Biden didn’t commemorate the invasion over the weekend, those who fought on the beaches of northern France that June morning remain “close to his heart.”

Vice President Kamala Harris and first lady Jill Biden made brief posts on social media, but the lack of a tribute from the commander in chief did not go unnoticed by lawmakers and veterans’ organizations.

“I was disappointed to see that yesterday President Biden failed to honor the memory of the heroes who fought for our freedoms on D-Day,” tweeted Tennessee Rep. Diana Harshbarger. “These American heroes deserve much better.”

Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas felt the Biden snub was deliberate.

“I’m FURIOUS that Biden couldn’t be bothered to say ANYTHING to recognize the bravery of those who fought at Normandy 77 years ago,” Jackson tweeted. “His ‘Hate America Agenda’ is so strong, he wants us to FORGET about our war heroes. WE WILL NEVER FORGET THEIR BRAVERY!”

Author/historian Stephen Ambrose, who passed away 19 years ago, summed it up best when he explained what the sacrifices of the D-Day soldier meant to this nation and to the world.

“At the core, the American citizen soldiers knew the difference between right and wrong, and they didn’t want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed,” Ambrose said. “So they fought, and won, and we, all of us, living and yet to be born, must be forever profoundly grateful.”

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.