D-Day Memorial Speech by Charles Durning

[89th]

You might recognize him as an actor from movies like O Brother Where Art Thou, I didn't know he stormed the beaches on D-Day. A movie speech (and good music) from 2004:

Link to video

[jon-nyc]

Wow.

The allegretto from Beethoven’s seventh is a nice choice.

[89th]

Yeah, reminded me of The King's Speech

[jon-nyc]

I didn’t know much about him. He was one of 11 kids born to an Irish catholic family, 5 of whom died as babies from scarlet fever or smallpox. His dad died when he was a kid and his mom supported the family as a laundress at West Point.

[AndyD]

Holy s**t
I recognised him immediately from the best ever NCIS episode, where he plays an aging Medal of Honor recipient called Ernie Yost, tortured by his war memories of Iwo Jima.
Who knew he was actually on the French beaches!