One of the major confrontations of the Second World War began when Allied troops landed on the coast of Normandy. Twelve weeks of vicious combat in the hedgerows, in the cornfields of the plain around Caen and in the region's ruined towns and villages were to determine the outcome of the war on the Western Front and precipitate the fall of the Third Reich. Normandy was to carry the scars of battle for many years. Its martyrdom was the ransom to pay for the final victory. It is fitting that the sacrifice of a region and its inhabitants be forever linked in our memories to the sacrifice of those young men who came from over the Channel and over the Atlantic, and who now rest in peace forever in this land they came to liberate.