A man uses his cellular phone inside the Paris tourism office decorated with American flags, Friday July 4, 2003. The French in large ways and small, have offered gestures of healing on America' s Indepedence Day. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)
Posted on 07/04/2003 2:16:47 PM PDT by BunnySlippers
France Remembers U.S. on Independence Day
By ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press Writer
PARIS - From signs on the Eiffel Tower to red roses on the immaculate graves of U.S. soldiers who fell in France, the French, in large ways and small, offered gestures of healing on America's Independence Day.
Relations between the two nations were severely strained over the leading role France took in opposing the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news - web sites). But America was given tender treatment Friday by simple citizens, businesses and the City of Paris, all trying to undo the damage.
"July 4th, 2003, Independence Day, Welcome to Our American Visitors" read electronic boards at the steely feet of the Eiffel Tower.
Champagne, fruit baskets or special discounts awaited American tourists at more than 100 hotels, restaurants and businesses as part of an "extra welcome" aimed at putting the past behind.
"We have had a decline in American visitors to Paris since the beginning of the year," said Jean-Marc Janaillac, president of the Tourism Office of Paris.
A climate of fear over terrorism, the dropping dollar and the political fallout following the U.S.-led war in Iraq kept tourists closer to home and hurt numerous European countries.
But "part of this decline is based on the fact that some Americans are afraid of not being welcome in France," Janaillac told Associated Press Television News. "And we wanted to tell them very simply ... that they are welcome in Paris, indeed."
The sweetest — and perhaps most powerful — message came far from the hustle and bustle of urban tourist haunts.
In simple ceremonies at military cemeteries, men, women and children placed a simple red rose at each of the 60,511 graves of U.S. soldiers who died fighting on French soil in the two world wars. The tribute began Thursday at the huge D-Day cemetery in Normandy and continued Friday at smaller burial sites in France.
"It's like a family. There are conflicts, but in the end one remains a family. You stay together," said Anne-Colombe de La Taille, who helped organize the grass roots initiative.
An open letter, signed by myriad groups, from friendship clubs to businesses, schools and culinary associations, notes French support during the War of Independence in which the Marquis de Lafayette, prominent at the start of the French Revolution, played a role.
The letter is entitled, "The French Will Never Forget," recalling the height of bitterness between Paris and Washington over Iraq when some Americans implied that France was betraying U.S. soldiers killed for France.
"I think it's a lot of politicization and what the newspapers say," said Debbie Bileca, an American tourist from Connecticut visiting the tourist office. She did not give her hometown.
Bileca said she felt badly "when we had so many misunderstandings because of the war in Iraq." She and her friends "really want to continue the French-American friendship ... We still love the French people," she said.
One restaurant that caters to French and American tastes with its Cajun and Creole food, "Thanksgiving" in the capital's Marais district, had a full house booked for Friday night.
"There were less clients with the war in Iraq," said Frederic Bluysen, in charge of the restaurant. "Like everyone, we suffered.
"Tonight, it's a little different," he said.
With a special menu featuring crawfish pie, barbecued ribs and blackened swordfish, the eatery was full.
"God bless America," said Bluysen, breaking into English. "What else can I say for the fourth of July!"
A man uses his cellular phone inside the Paris tourism office decorated with American flags, Friday July 4, 2003. The French in large ways and small, have offered gestures of healing on America' s Indepedence Day. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)
I don't know about that. My grandfather disowned one of my aunts decades ago. He's been dead for 20 years, she died 10 years ago, and there's still hard feelings in the family.
A woman places a rose on the grave marker of a U.S. soldier at the American cemetery at Colleville near Omaha beach in Normandy, July 3, 2003. More than 9,000 roses were placed in this cemetery and a total of more than 63,000 throughout France in a gesture of France-US friendship and to mark Independence Day. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
French Navy petty officer 1st class Jean-Marie Riboche holds a red rose to lay in front of one of the graves of American soldiers fallen during the two World Wars, at the American military cemetery in Suresnes, outside Paris, Friday, July 4, 2003. All American cemeteries in France were adorned with red roses as part of Independence Day celebrations. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)
We're always insisting on deeds rather than words at FR.
I do believe the French have done a deed.
American WWII veteran Captain Wilbur Latshaw, from the 741st tank, places a flower on a grave of an American at the D-Day war cemetery of Colleville sur Mer, Normandy, Friday July 4, 2003. For Independence Day, red roses were put on each of the 60,511 graves of American soldiers who died fighting on French soil. (AP Photo/Franck Prevel)
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