Message for the Ceremonies Marking the 10th Anniversary of Allied Landings in Southern France.

[Released August 14, 1954. Dated August 9, 1954]

TEN YEARS AGO an Allied force landed on the southern coast of France and later joined other Allied forces to liberate France and destroy a tyranny imposed by totalitarian dictators.

The valorous French First Army, led by the late Marshal de Lattre de Tassigny, was among those forces which on that day demonstrated that there are men in the world strong enough and brave enough to make supreme sacrifices for the ideals in which they believe. The occasion of this landing was only one example of this heroism. Many times thereafter the reconstituted French forces, with their Allies, showed the determination and courage that win and preserve freedom for men.

I have been proud to know the people of the great French nation, and I hold the deepest respect and admiration for their devotion, as individuals and as a nation, to their individual liberties and their country's independence. With them, I pay tribute to this great event now being commemorated; with them, I mourn their lost comrades, many of whom were also comrades of mine. Today, as new perils threaten, may we continue to march unitedly, as we did a decade ago, and together may we continue to strive and to persevere toward the international good will and peace for which we commonly yearn.