The emotional exchange was broadcast on giant screens to the applause of thousands of people who had gathered on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. And then quickly resonated across the Internet.
An American World War II veteran wearing a blue cap, sitting in a wheelchair and with a blue blanket on his lap, was introduced to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine by Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister.
“You are the savior of the people,” veteran Melvin Hurwitz, 99, of Frederick, Maryland, told Zelensky after hugging the Ukrainian leader. “You make me cry”.
“No, no, no, you saved Europe,” Zelensky responded.
“You are our hero,” Hurwitz, whose identity was confirmed by his great-niece, Sarah Hurwitz Robey, said moments later, as Zelensky knelt next to him to take a photo.
“No, you are our hero,” the president responded.
The moment captured a global audience that had focused its attention on the beaches of Normandy and the men who landed there on June 6, 1944, helping turn the tide of World War II after five years of conflict. Those still living are over 90 years old or over 100 now.
When the spotlight turned to those men, there was something notable about the fact that a veteran expressed similar admiration for the Ukrainian leader, who is leading the resistance to a modern invasion.
Their embrace reflected a connection that President Biden made explicit in his remarks at the ceremony, in which he presented the Allied effort to repel the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an extension of the battle for freedom in Europe that played out on the beaches of Normandy eight decades ago.
“We know the dark forces these heroes fought against 80 years ago,” Biden said, addressing a crowd of thousands, including 180 surviving veterans of the D-Day operation, near the graves of 9,388 US service members.
“They never fade,” Biden added. “Aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and control, to change borders by force, are perennial. The fight between dictatorship and freedom is endless.”
Hurwitz Robey said he first learned of his great-uncle’s meeting with Zelensky from a friend who sent him the video on Thursday. He said Hurwitz was in Normandy on behalf of the Best Defense Foundation, a nonprofit group that organizes battlefield reunions for World War II veterans.
According to the foundation, Hurwitz was assigned to the U.S. Eighth Air Force and served as a radio gunner on a B-17, the massive bomber known as the Flying Fortress.
Alain Delaquérière contributed to the research.