9,387 United States service members are buried on French soil, not because they wanted to have their final resting place thousands of miles from home but because it was a necessary sacrifice to be made.
Many of them died during the invasion of Normandy and the following operations during WWII. Army Air Corps pilots and crews who were shot down, in addition to three American women, will also rest there forever.
These small numbers only represent the brave Americans whose families were not fortunate enough to have their loves one’s bodies returned to American soil. In total, 416,800 Americans lost their lives fighting for the world.
It is rare that anyone questions the sacrifices made by the United States – especially on behalf of France- during WWII, but the French ambassador to the United States chose the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor to do just that.
“In this Pearl Harbor day, we should remember that the US refused to side with France and UK to confront fascist powers in the 30s,” Gérard Araud wrote Thursday evening – now a deleted tweet.
Even though he deleted the Tweet, he still defended himself, saying, “UK, France and US committed awful mistakes in the 30s. Because of its geography, France was the first to pay for them,” on Twitter.
He later acknowledged the US contribution, which began with one of the largest human sacrifices in modern history in the war. 73,000 American service members took part in D-day and over 6,000 of them lost their lives.
“We are immensely grateful for what the US did for France in 1944 but it is a fact that US, France and UK commited mistakes in the 30s,” he said.
Out of all days for him to make his statement, he chose the anniversary of Battle of Pearl Harbor. December 7th is a sacred day to remember the loss of 2,335 Americans and the 1,143 wounded, not the time to detract from their sacrifice.
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