Biden in Normandy says he prays Americans don’t become isolationists

President Joe Biden on Thursday used the 80th anniversary of D-Day to warn against the spread of isolationism and to promise that the U.S. would “not walk away” from Ukraine.

Speaking before a crowd of aging WWII veterans, many over 100 years old and wheelchair bound, Biden pointed to the beaches of Normandy, where he spoke, as “a powerful illustration of how alliances make us stronger. It was, he remarked, “a lesson that I pray Americans never forget.”

Acknowledging that soon “the last living voices of those who fought and bled on D-Day will no longer be with us,” Biden urged America not to forget the lesson that the postwar democratic order was worth fighting for.

“We cannot let what happened here be lost in the silence of the years to come,” Biden said. “The fact that they were heroes here that day does not absolve us of what we have do today.”