D-Day a day for Peace and Reconciliation

The 70th Anniversary of the sacrifice others paid on French soil to liberate France and Europe from Nazi Germany. It is a day that the French honour and express gratitude to the veterans of America, Canada, United Kingdom, and others who sacrificed so much. "Our gratitude will never be extinguished", Hollande said.
I still just cannot imagine having made that trip across the ocean, arriving on the shores of Normandy and being ready to fight.
You will have seen much coverage from the Canadian and American angle, so I will focus on the German view of this 70th Anniversary.

150,000 men landed on the beaches of Normandy, at the end of the day over 4,000 Allied soldiers died. German soldiers, reports vary from 4,000 to 9,000.
On a day of an Allied Victory Celebration the Germans are invited to attend as a symbol of friendship and reconciliation. German veterans were also present this year.  I am not sure but I think this could be the first time and probably their last, simply because of their age.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was invited on the 60th Anniversary to the D-Day remembrance. I remember watching this ceremony and having mixed feelings.
This DW video shows Germany's involvement in D-Day.
This year the French President Hollande even went so far to say,  ( DW source)" I want to salute the courage of the Germans, victims too of Nazism, embodied in a war that was not theirs, that should not have been theirs". On the big screen on Normandy beach where images of the war were shown, the tv moderator said ( tv showed interviews at this time with veterans) an image of  Sophie Scholl was shown, a young German student that was beheaded for speaking out against the Nazis.
At the very end of the ceremony, after the singing, in German of course,  the European Anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy,  a French and German veteran stood side by side, holding hands, hugging one another. The images of them today and 70 years ago as soldiers fighting on opposite sides.  A symbol of reconciliation and friendship.
Chancellor Merkel and the French Foreign Minister Fabius lay a wreath at a War Cemetery in Ranville where German soldiers are buried.
Even 70 years later this is a gesture that one cannot imagine in all Allied or EU countries, for example I cannot see this done in the United Kingdom. The Brits and the Germans do not have this special relationship that the French and the Germans have.
It takes a long time for wounds to heal. It takes a long time for a country to come to terms with its past. It also takes a long time for others to view a country in a different light. This author is saying what to some is unthinkable, that not all Allied soldiers were good and all German soldiers were evil. I am not saying I agree with this book, I have only read this article but I just want to make the point that one could argue that American and British historians have been primarily one-sided. That could be entirely natural, but aren't historians to search for the truth?  
Perhaps it isn't even appropriate to have the defeated country at the ceremony of the victors. The soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice for a free Europe, a victory that started on the West coast but wasn't over till Germany was defeated in the East.
Germany more than any other country will never forget and has done and will continue to work hard for unity in the EU and do its utmost to keep Europe united and free.

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Frau Cab
(Sorry I did not finish editing so was posted late)