In the 80’s I was a part of the Airborne Battalion Combat Team stationed at Vicenza Italy. We jumped into a field near Omaha beach as part of a D-Day ceremony. I cannot speak about the French population as a whole ,but the people in and around that area love America and Americans. Forever etched in my mind is the picture of the little girl who handed me some flowers she had picked as I departed the drop zone. She was with someone who I would guess was her grandfather and when I shook hands with him I noticed that he was crying. We did not say a word to each other, but the look of gratitude in his eyes told me more than anywords could about his feelings for America. Whenever I get down about the direction our country is going I recall that moment in that field far from home. Though the media may paint most of the world as being America haters, I know nothing could be farther from the truth. There are good people like the ones I met that week I spent in France that know what the world would be like if America becomes just another country in the world. That should make us all proud to be Americans.
My daughter saw an elderly French woman. She came up to my daughter and asked, with tears in her eyes, "Are you an American?" My daughter answered, "yes!"
The woman gave her a hug, and thanked her for America's help during the war.
They both had tears in their eyes when they were finished talking.