President Biden proudly appeared in support of American veterans during visits to war cemeteries in France

Echo report published in Yahoo.com by Josh Marcus:

President Joe Biden concluded his five-day state visit to France on Sunday, June 9, 2024, by touring an American cemetery home to 2,200 US soldiers who fought and died in World War I. (Aisne-Marne American Cemetery)

The president, who has used the visit to praise US alliances in Europe and reiterate support Ukraine in its war for Russia, laid a wreath at the chapel of Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, France, outside of Paris.

“These soldiers were heroes, just as every American who has served this nation,” Biden said during the visit, adding, “The best way to avoid these kinds of battles in the future is to stay strong with our allies.”

Many observers saw the visit as a rebuke to Donald Trump, who skipped a planned 2018, visit to the cemetery and reportedly called the servicemen buried there “suckers” and “losers.”

Trump reportedly snubbed a planned commemoration at the cemetery for the 100th anniversary of WWI, fearing his hair would become disheveled in the rain, The Atlantic reported in 2020.

“At the time, he reportedly told those on the trip with him, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”

Trump denied making the comments about the French cemetery.

John Kelly, a former Marine Corps general and Trump chief of staff, later told CNN Trump indeed mocked the dead American soldiers there.

'God help us': GeneralJohn Kelly issues scathing statement on Trump
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The alleged remarks echoed Trump’s past controversial remarks about Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who endured years of torture, about whom Trump said, “I like people who weren’t captured.”

Senataor John McCain's headstone in the US Naval academy cemetery in Annapolis (L'Heureux photo)

The Biden campaign, facing an extremely tight race against Trump in November, has sought to emphasize Trump’s comments about the military.

A recent campaign ad cuts footage of dead American servicemembers returning home in coffins with Trump’s past remarks about soldiers.

Elsewhere during the state visit, Biden commemorated the 80th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy in Nazi-occupied France.

“They knew ... beyond any doubt that there are things that are worth fighting and dying for: Freedom is worth it,” Biden said of the soldiers. “Democracy is worth it. America’s worth it, the world is worth it, then, now and always.”

He also said the success of D-Day proved “the unbreakable unity of allies.”

Reports about Donald Trump calling veterans interred in cemeteries "suckers" and "losers"

Echo report published in Military Times by James LaPorta (AP)

DELRAY BEACH, FLa. — A new report details multiple instances of President Donald Trump making disparaging remarks about members of the U.S. military who have been captured or killed, including referring to the American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France in 2018, as “losers” and “suckers.”

Trump's disparaging "suckers and losers" description about veterans were first reported in The Atlantic. 

A senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge of events and a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was told about Trump’s comments confirmed some of the remarks to The Associated Press, including the 2018, cemetery comments.

Omaha Beach became a bloodbath on 6 June,1944

The defense officials said Trump made the comments as he begged off visiting the cemetery outside Paris during a meeting following his presidential daily briefing on the morning of Nov. 10, 2018.

Staffers from the National Security Council and the Secret Service told Trump that rainy weather made helicopter travel to the cemetery risky, but they could drive there. Trump responded by saying he didn’t want to visit the cemetery because it was “filled with losers,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The Trump White House blamed the canceled visit on poor weather at the time.

In another conversation on the trip, The Atlantic said, Trump referred to the 1,800 Marines who died in the World War I, battle of Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

Trump also reiterated the White House explanation of why he didn’t visit the cemetery. “The helicopter could not fly,” he said, because of the rain and fog. “The Secret Service told me you can’t do it. ... They would never have been able to get the police and everybody else in line to have a president go through a very crowded, very congested area.”

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, “If the revelations reported in The Atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and I disagree about the role of the President of the United States.”

“Duty, honor, country — those are the values that drive our service members,” he said in a statement Thursday night, adding that if he is elected president, “I will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honor their sacrifice — always.” Biden’s son Beau served in Iraq in 2008-09.

The Defense officials also confirmed to The AP, reporting in The Atlantic that Trump, on Memorial Day 2017, had gone with his chief of staff, John Kelly, to visit the Arlington Cemetery gravesite of Kelly’s son, Robert, who was killed in 2010, in Afghanistan, and said to Kelly: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”

Maine Writer Juliana L'Heureux at Senator John McCain's headstone in the U.S. Naval Acadamy cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland God Bless John McCain (b. 1936- d. 2018).

The senior Marine Corps officer and The Atlantic, citing sources with firsthand knowledge, also reported that Trump said he didn’t want to support the August 2018, funeral of Republican Sen. John McCain, a decorated Navy veteran who spent years as a Vietnam prisoner of war, because he was a “loser.” The Atlantic also reported that Trump was angered that flags were flown at half-staff for McCain, saying: “What the f—- are we doing that for? Guy was a f—-ing loser.”

Trump acknowledged Thursday he was “never a fan” of McCain and disagreed with him,