DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Showing you live pictures right now from New Orleans, an incredible gathering today for the opening of the national D-Day museum. Ten thousand World War II veterans on hand, the largest gathering of World War II veterans in over 40 years for the opening of this museum. One of the founders and the creators, Stephen Ambrose, the author and historian, will be our guest later on</s>MORNING NEWS. BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Looks like it might be a bit rainy today in New Orleans, not keeping the folks away today though.</s>KAGAN: Take more than that to dampen their spirits.</s>HEMMER: You are right there. On this date back in 1994 they were remembering Normandy, and the invasion of D-Day. Fifty years remembered, that's our focus of "CNN 20" today.</s>WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We gather in the calm after sunrise today to remember that faithful morning, the pivot point of the war, perhaps the pivot point of the 20th century.</s>LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: Being a World War II buff, when the boss asked me if I'd like to go and cover the 50th anniversary of D-Day, I said: You betcha. And I talked to some of these guys who were on the beaches, Omaha Beach specifically, the 90th Division. You just can't imagine the stories that they told. "Saving Private Ryan" probably was the closest that the current generation got to knowing the horror of the invasion of Normandy, that these men will assure you that it was much worse than that. One of them said if I had had $1 million, I'd have given to anyone to get me out of there. There was overwhelming emotion about the sacrifices that that generation made for our generation and to this day, people who visit the American cemetery at Normandy, are absolutely awestruck at the event that fifty-some years ago now was the scene of enormous conflict to prevent the world from being a very different place than it is now.
CNN 20: 50th Anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1994