arrived on this beach six weeks after d-day and marched across europe. it is my great uncle who was part of the first american division to reach an elaborate a nazi concentration camp. i am so proud that he is with us here today. i know this trip does not get any easier as the years pass. for those of you who may geke i, there is nothing they could keep your weight. -- they could keep you away. . .

>> when asked why he made the trip, he said that it is important that we tell our stories. it does not have to be something big, just a little story about what happened. so people won't forget. so people don't forget. friends and veterans, we cannot forget. what we must not forget is that d-day was a time and place when the bravery and selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century.

an hour of maximum danger, among the bleakest of circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found within themselves the ability to do something extraordinary. they fought for their moms and sweethearts back home, for the fellow warriors they came to know as brothers. it was a simple sense of duty, a duty sustained by the same ideals that their countrymen had fought and bled for for for two centuries that is the story of normandy. but it is also the story of america. the minutemen who gathered on a beach in lexington. of the men who gave their last full measure in vietnam. of all the young men and women

whose valor and goodness still carry forward this legacy of service and sacrifice, it is a story that has never come easy, but one that always gives us hope. we cannot help but draw from those moments in history when the best among us were somehow secure a beachhead on an unforgiving sure. those men who achieve that victory 65 years ago, we thank you for your service. may god bless you and may god bless the memory of all those to rest here. [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, four of the normandy veterans that are with us here today will be awarded the legion of honor in recognition of their efforts and bravery. the legion of honor is france's highest decoration. it was created by napoleon bonaparte in 18 02. today's recipients will be awarded the order of officer of the legion of honor. [speaking french]

[but bugle plays] >> ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the legion of honor presentation for jack woods, joseph roach of canada and [inaudible] military personnel, attention to orders. [speaking french] [applause] [speaking french]

[applause] [speaking french] [applause] [speaking french] [applause] [bugle placys]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. ladies and gentlemen, president obama, his royal highness the prince of wales, prime minister brown, prime minister harper, and presidents are cozy will now lay a wreath at the memorial in honor of those who served and those who made the supreme sacrifice. [speaking french]

>> ladies and gentlemen, we will now observe a moment of silence for our fallen brother rubrethr. [speaking french] [moment of silence]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please rise for our 21 gun salute, the playing of taps, and a fly over by the french, british and u.s. air forces. [speaking french]

[gunfire] [gunfire] [taps plays]

[aircraft flies over] [aircraft

flies overhead]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. [speaking french] >> ladies and gentlemen, please remain in place until the official party has departed the ceremonial area. [speaking french] >> earlier this week, president obama delivered a note speech to the muslim world from cairo, egypt. we will show you that speech sunday at 10:30 a.m. eastern on

c-span. >> the federal communications commission held a news conference on thursday on the digital television transition. on june 12, all broadcast signals will be digital. this is about 20 minutes. >> the e-mail is dtvcountdown @fcc.gov. you can direct your questions to me or the commissioners. please identify your name and affiliation for the benefit of the people who are watching this on the web. who would like to ask the first question?

>> a question on the 35 stations that will go dark after june 12, do we know who they are? what company? which company is -- going bankrupt. >> we do have them permission. some of it is indicated on our master list, but for everybody's convenience, we will be doing is posting a full list of the 35. >> i do not think we need to go through it here. >> no, we will not.

i just wanted to know -- wanted you to know that we would be posted net. >> 18 of those stations are owned by a single company that is going into bankruptcy and the rest are going dark for technical reasons? >> 18 of them have financial reasons. 17 of those are one particular company. 16 of them are construction issues that will be resolved by the end of the year. one of them as a construction permit that is pending that we are looking at. >> puerto rico has a large number of viewers. how was it going there? >> they have made huge strides.

there is a person down there that has done a lot of work. i am afraid that they are still seeing a large number of people that are unprepared. transition is the highest in the united states. . when we cut that back log in half, from 73, the number is now unacceptably high. there are still a lot of people that are not prepared. the broadcasters know this is coming. there are enough boxes on the island. it takes a little longer to get them there. a there seems to be an adequate supply. people are waiting for the last

minute. when the same people wait, they started at 50%. we have a bit of a challenge. it will be more disruptive in puerto rico. it is going to be a little messy and i hope that we can, over time, deal with the over the weeks following the transition. do you have the number of people that are unprepared? >> do we have that number? >> we can try to get back to you on that. >> mr. chairman, do you have any sense of when congress will approve -- have you got any

sense from in dia will likely get back to you? >> no, we are hoping that it will be soon. we are fairly confident that things are on track. i will be doing everything i can to make sure that is done. do we have any questions over here? an on-line question says that a lot of converter boxes will not be able to get the dtv signal because of certain rooftop antennas. they say that is a fatal flaw in the transition. have you respond? >-- how do you respond?

>> i have not heard of that. >> i think that what he means is that there is a problem with propagation of the digital signal. >> there is no question about that. we intended to discuss that. i think this is an area where they need to conduct ourselves with great candor. there are one to be some cases where they will lose signals through no fault of their own. the could be in areas that are outside the market itself. they will still be inconvenienced and less than pleased about that. there might be some who lose that signal. we will find that out. that is why i am saying that if we have the kind of effort on this, we couldn't make sure the

broadcasters have coordinated and that in the transition phase. you can test this out. we are hoping it is not going to be a major problem. people need to understand that this is a sensitive transition and you're dealing with sensitive technology. all of the kings will not be worked out. you're still more to have some of these things that will not be worked out because it will take some time the commission sat for too long. we are always going to have to be a little patient. it will be a win for most consumers. they will get a better picture and all of that. more people will be happy then

will be inconvenienced. we will be hearing from the inconvenience, i am sure. >> certainly, many people will lose signals, but more and to gain signals that they did not have. one of the things that we can't emphasize enough is that we will not hear from people that get channels that they did not previously get, but there are going to be more people the benefit from getting stations that will lose 10. we will hear from the ones that lose them. >> how big of a problem would you have it you did not receive the $10 million from the commerce department to help with the call centers? >> it is hard to precisely it

predicts that because we do not know note the problems that will occur. in my remarks, how would rather be over prepared and underprepared. it is very easy for me to envision a scenario. people get back from a long weekend and we do not have a sufficient number of operators, then there will be a great consumer dissatisfaction and the potential for considerable backlash. we don't need to take that risk. the money has been provided by the congress. this is a high priority for the utilization of that money. we have to make sure that it is up and running and running well. >> it is absolutely vital that we get that money for the call

center. if there is a concern, regarding how to fund that, they can cut back to keep on program to make only those that have broadcast reception get the but coupons. >> i might point out that if we do not need that money, we can ramp down. " we do not have to spend that money. we will keep 4000 operators on line from here to return to. we will try to respond to the needs of the moment.

that strikes me as management 1 01 -- management 101. >> was it on purpose that the friday date was picked and will that cause any problems? what are you doing over the weekend? it is my birthday. >> will be here on the 12th and the 13th and then we will just have to see the measure of the problem. what was the first part? >> was a friday picked on purpose? what we did not set that. congress established that date. it is not a bad date. somebody would have a problem with any day of the week. >> mr. chairman, can i ask you

to keep the air conditioning on over the weekend. >> we are already doing that. >> see what a great administrator he is? >> for all of the commissioners, how concerned are you that 18 stations will not be broadcast and will no longer be a primary signal. it had been a concern in canada that some stations would stop broadcasting altogether. that seems to be essentially what we are seeing. >> i am concerned whenever any broadcast asian goes dark. base shut operations down and the voice competition that i talked about alive was blue in the face.

that is a net loss for the american people. there is no doubt about that. >> i think it is a perfect forum for the broadcast industry. this is an unprecedented downturn in advertising revenue due to a number of trends in the economy coming together rep the same time. -- coming together at the same time. i think it is unfortunate. i am not sure that it is the last that we will hear a broadcaster shutting down. not unless this economy turns around pretty quickly. >> i am very concerned. i think it is just the beginning of what we may be hearing in terms of bad news on the horizon. many broadcasters rely on auto dealers for about 30 percent

sign of their ad revenue and now we have thousands of auto dealers being closed around the country. this will be a pain for broadcasters across the country. hopefully, going forward, the commission will take the it broadcasting dress and consideration. >> just a couple of housekeeping questions. >> there is a spreadsheet on the website, and excel spreadsheet, it has the information of the stations and when they are transitioning. i know that we could follow up and give you the exact link, but you can get it on the first page of the tv doggo.

-- on the first page of dtv.gov. i think we are planning on posting a separate sheet that lists the 35 stations. >> what is the broadcast came? >> equity media owns 17 of the broadcast patients. several of the stations are the stations. whether or not they are all born to be permanently bar, that is something that we do not know. it is something that everybody is looking at because of the