Thank you President Bidne for visiting the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France where World War One veterans are interred

Echo news reported by Chris Megerian and Zeke Miller

BELLEAU, France (AP) — President Joe Biden closed out his trip to France by paying his respects at an American military cemetery that Donald Trump notably skipped* visiting when he was president, hoping his final stop Sunday will draw the stakes of the November election in stark relief.

Before returning to the United States, Biden honored America’s war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery about an hour outside Paris. He placed a wreath at the cemetery chapel before an expanse of white headstones marking the final resting place of more than 2,200 U.S. soldiers who fought in World War I.

It was a solemn end to five days in which Trump was an unspoken yet unavoidable presence. On the surface, the trip marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day and celebrated the alliance between the United States and France. But during an election year when Trump has called into question fundamental understandings about America’s global role, Biden has embraced his Republican predecessor — and would-be successor — as a latent foil.

With headstones lying in a sweeping curve, the 42.5-acre Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in France, sits at the foot of Belleau Wood. The cemetery contains the graves of 2,289 war dead, most of whom fought in the vicinity and in the Marne Valley in the summer of 1918. The memorial chapel sits on a hillside, decorated with sculptured and stained-glass details of wartime personnel, equipment and insignia. Inscribed on its interior wall are 1,060 names of the missing. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. In 1940, during World War II the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery chapel was damaged due to heavy fighting in the vicinity. All damage was repaired except for one shell hole in the chapel, left as a reminder of what took place.

Belleau Wood adjoins the cemetery and contains many vestiges of World War I. A monument at the flagpole commemorates the valor of the U.S. Marines who captured much of this ground in 1918.

Presiddnt Biden capped off a five-day trip to France paying his respects with a wreath-laying at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial before returning to Washington. 

President Biden spent much of the trip to France honoring American veterans – but the subtext of Sunday’s expedition is also aimed at Trump, who scrapped his 2018, journey to the World War I memorial and later faced criticism for denigrating US veterans.

*In 2018, Trump, at the time, was in Paris to commemorate the centennial of the end of World War I with other world leaders, blamed weather and safety issues for eschewing the cemetery visit. The president’s Marine One helicopter cannot fly in low cloud cover, a decision that is made by military and security officials. But there did not appear to be a backup plan, and Trump did not make any statements of regret over not being able to visit the cemetery.

CNN later reported that Trump referred to the fallen US service members at Aisne-Marne in crude and derogatory terms. A former senior Trump administration official, who declined to be named, confirmed reporting from The Atlantic magazine, which cited sources who said Trump rejected the idea of a cemetery visit and proceeded to refer to the fallen soldiers as “losers” and “suckers.”

Rose petals over the Statue of Liberty - Americans should have seen this in real time on national media

One million rose petals showered the Statue of Liberty on D-Day June 6, the 70th anniversaray of the Allied landing on Normandy Beach, during the Second World War in Europe.

Fortunately, I found this link on my Google news feed. Unfortunately, I did not see this stunning memorial on any of the main line media I monitor.  Why?

Here's the story from a posting on Expatica.com; following is a link to a video site.

Shower of rose petals over Statue of Liberty marks D-Day

A million red rose petals were showered over the Statue of Liberty on Friday in a spectacular display to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landing in Normandy during World War II.

Dropped from three helicopters, the petals looked tiny against Lady Liberty, a 305-foot (93-meter) colossus rising from an island in New York harbor.

But the crowds applauded enthusiastically, as tourists and children carefully gathered the petals as they floated down around the statue, a symbol of the United States and of Franco-American friendship.

In all, 70,000 roses -- 1,000 for each year since the epic landing -- were used.

One hundred and thirty French and American schoolchildren unfurled huge French and American flags at the foot of the statue, and sung French and American hymns, in honor of the US forces that stormed ashore June 6, 1944 to help liberate France from Nazi occupation.

A dozen veterans, all more than 90 years old, also took in the sight, some overcome with emotion.

"I am not a hero, the heroes are still in Normandy, and France," said 91-year-old Joseph Chiopolo, a former army medic who remembers the landing on Omaha Beach with horror.

"All you do is walk over dead bodies. It was awful."

He survived, saved by a comrade who lost his life.

"God was on my side. I made it. I am blessed," he told AFP.

Although he has returned to France several times, Chiopolo has never wanted to go back to Normandy.

"There is no winner in any war. Never, ever," he said, urging younger generations "to take care of each other and be friendly."

- A flotilla of boats -

Morton Warnick, like other vets, speaks of their exploits with modesty.

"I felt it was a job that had to be done," he said of the landing. "The Germans did a lot of terrible things, we had to get rid of them."

Warnick was supposed to disembark on Omaha Beach, but because of an error ended up on Utah Beach, a twist of fate he has never forgotten and for which he will always be grateful.

Unlike Omaha Beach, where fighting was fierce, the Americans who landed on Utah Beach encountered much less resistance.

"I still remember getting on the boat, getting off the boat, my heart panting," he said.

The ceremony on Liberty Island was organized by the association The French Will Never Forget with the French Embassy and the consulate in New York.

"We wanted to do something grand, unique," said Paul Bensabat, a founder of the association formed 10 years ago in the context of the Iraq war to affirm US-French friendship.

A shower of rose petals on the Statue of Liberty had never been done before, "and perhaps never will again," he said.

The French navy frigate La Fayette anchored near Liberty Island for the occasion, and sailboats flew French and American flags.

A New York fire boat sent up jets of water in blue, white and red, to the applause of spectators.

Other commemorative events organized by the French veterans of New York and the American Society of Le Souvenir Francais are planned for Saturday at Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn and the French section in the Flushing Cemetery in Queens.

Video site: Three helicopters dropped one million red rose petals over the Statue of Liberty on Friday in New York City in honor of D-Day's 70th anniversary.

The nonprofit group The French Will Never Forget spent about $100,000 in preparation for the show and froze the 1,200 pounds of petals so they would stay fresh. After the petals fluttered to the ground, 13 World War II veterans were honored with a 21-gun salute on Liberty Island. Two 60 x 30-foot flags — one American, one French — were also unfurled at the statue's feet.

Although American news media are preoccupied with gun violence deaths, and the useless reporting about Sergeant Bergdahl's role in the Taliban prisoner exchange, a story to highlight positively heroic French and American international friendship has flown over their heads, like phantom helicopters.