D-Day ceremony just US and France
Government spokesman says Normandy landing commemorations were first and foremost a French-American event.
THE FRENCH government has delivered a new snub to British veterans by claiming its D-Day commemorations were primarily a French-American affair.
While assuring that the Queen Elizabeth II would be ‘naturally welcome’ at the ceremony following reports that she had not been invited, French government spokesman Luc Chatel added that it was ‘first and foremost a Franco-American ceremony’.
“Our contacts on this ceremony are members of the British government who want to be associated with a ceremony which was from the start Franco-American.
“June 6, 2009 is first and foremost a Franco-American ceremony.”
The Queen is head of state of both the UK and Canada who landed a total of 83,115 troops (61,715 British) on June 6 with around 17,000 and 5,300 soldiers killed or wounded.
Unlike Presidents Sarkozy and Obama she served during the Second World War.
In early 1945 she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) as a mechanic and by the end of the war she had reached the rank of Junior Commander.
While Buckingham Palace has not commented on reports of the Queen’s ‘frustration’, it has confirmed that no invitation to the ceremony had been received.
The Connexion has produced a letter of complaint in French along with the addresses of the Prime Minister and President for readers wishing to express their anger at the French government’s sentiments that D-Day commemorations should be a Franco-American affair.
Click here for the letter
