Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumFRANCE REJECTS Trump's War Chief At D-Day Ceremony - House of El
🇫🇷 Hegseth attended the American cemetery ceremony in Normandy but skipped the main international D-Day event.
⚰️ His speech used the graves of Allied soldiers to frame immigration as an invasion of Europe.
🚫 A local civic association in Langrune-sur-Mer declared him persona non grata and called for his visit to be cancelled.
🛡️ French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu used the same day to call for European strategic autonomy.
🇺🇸 The contrast is stark: the country that once led Europes liberation is now withdrawing forces, imposing tariffs, and pressuring its allies.
🌍 This incident sits alongside a wider European shift away from trusting Washington as the centre of continental security.
📉 The prediction: this may be ignored in American media, but remembered in Europe as another symbolic break in the transatlantic relationship.
cbabe
(6,921 posts)The French king denied Lafayettes request to join the American army. Teen ager and richest man in France climbed out a window and sailed away under cover of darkness.
https://grokipedia.com/page/List_of_places_named_for_the_Marquis_de_Lafayette
List of places named for the Marquis de Lafayette
The list of places named for the Marquis de Lafayette documents numerous cities, towns, counties, townships, streets, schools, and other sitesprimarily in the United Stateshonoring Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (17571834), a French aristocrat and military officer whose voluntary service and leadership contributed decisively to the American victory in the Revolutionary War.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-tale-of-two-revolutions-in-paris
A Tale of Two Revolutions at the Grave of the Marquis de Lafayette
American flag on his grave.
cbabe
(6,921 posts)I regret I cannot speak to the good people of France in the beautiful language of their own fair country.
The fact cannot be forgotten that your nation was our friend when America was struggling for existence, when a handful of brave and patriotic people were determined to uphold the rights their Creator gave them -- that France in the person of Lafayette came to our aid in words and deed.
It would be ingratitude not to remember this and America defaults no obligations...
Therefore it is with loving pride we drape the colors in tribute of respect to this citizen of your great Republic, and here and now in the shadow of the illustrious dead we pledge our hearts and our honor in carrying this war to successful issue.
LAFAYETTE -- WE ARE HERE !
Captain Charles E. Stanton, GHQ
Speech manuscript
https://m.